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PRINCETON,    N.    J.  i5 


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5/5^^., 


Division . . .  JIJ.  K-i  ."S  .Q  P      (/Tc  M  » 

6>r/?V7« » .L4  .(2>.  11.2- 

Number 


T^h^,  Z"*^^-^ 


MOSES,  THE  MAN  OF  GOD. 


MOSES 


THE    MAN    OF    GOD 


A   COUESE  OF   LECTURES. 


BY  THE  LATE 


JAMES  "Hamilton,  d.d.  r.L.s. 


NEW  YOEK: 
ROBERT  CARTER  AND  BROTHERS, 

530  BROADWAY. 
1871. 


EDINBl  RGH  :    FEINTED  BY  THOMAS  AND  ARCHIBALD  CONSTABLE, 
PRINTERS  TO  THE  QCERN,  AND  TO  THE  UNIVERSITY. 


PEEFATOEY    NOTE. 

The  following  Course  of  Lectures  was  delivered 
to  the  congregation  of  Eegent  Square  during  the 
winter  of  1859-60. 

The  MSS.,  although  not  prepared  for  the  press  by 
the  Author,  bear  sufficient  indications  of  his  ulti- 
mate intention  to  justify  their  publication  in  a 
collected  form.  Where  alternative  forms  of  expres- 
sion appear  in  the  MSS.,  those  that  seem  to  be  the 
later  have  been  retained. 

I-oxDOX,  Octoher  14,  1870. 


':i3' 


T?T15rf]™'TT>- 


CONTENTS. 

THEGLG8iO-iL 


I.— THE  ARK  OF  BULRtfSHES.    . 

II.— THE  FATHER  OF  CHIVALRY, 

III.— THE  MOMENTOUS  CHOICE,    . 

IV.— THE  FATHER  OF  HISTORY, 

v.— THE  CALL, 

VI.— THE  BURNING  BUSH, 

VIL— MOSES  AND  MESSIAH, 

VIII.— SIGNS  AND  WONDERS  :  THE  PLAGUES, 

IX.— THE  PASSOVER, 

X.— THE  PASSOVER— (con<i?iwecZ),    . 

XI.— THE  FIERY-CLOUDY  PILLAR, 

XIL— THE  RED  SEA,     . 

XIII.— MARAH,      .... 

XIV.— MURMURS, 

XV.— THE  DECALOGUE, 

XVI.— THE  LAW  AND  ITS  FULFILLER, 

XVII.— THE  THEOCRATIC  KING  AND  THE  OATH  OF 
GIANCE, 


PAGE  . 
1  '^ 


43  • 

64 

83 
100 
116 
131 
152 
168 
180 
194 
206 
223 
232 
250 


ALLE- 


Vlll 


CONTENTS. 


XVIII.— THE  TABERNACLE,      . 

XIX.— THE  DIVINE  GLORY,  . 
XX.— THE  LAWGIVER, 

XXI.— THE  WATER  OP  MERIBAH, 
XXII.— THE  HERMIT  NATION, 
XXIII.— THE  HERMIT  NATION— (continued), 
XXIV.  -"A  PRAYER  OF  MOSES,  THE  MAN  OF  GOD, 

XXV.— DEATH  OF  MOSES,       .... 


306 
314 
327 
340 
353 
365 


i 


I. 

^ht  ^rfe  of  fiukushcs. 


■  She  took  for  him  an  ark  of  bulrushes,  .  .  .  and  put  the  child 
therein."— Ex.  ii.  3. 


In  this  climate  of  ours  there  are  some  plants 
which  need  no  culture.  The  thistle  takes  care  of 
itself.  It  requires  no  husbandman  to  break  up  the 
ground  and  scatter  the  seed  and  drive  away  the 
fowls  of  heaven ;  but  wherever  there  is  a  breeze 
it  finds  a  carrier,  and  wherever  it  finds  a  sod  it 
makes  a  home.  Here  are  downs  which  have  not 
felt  the  plough  since  the  days  of  Alfred  or  Carac- 
tacus,  and  thistles  grow  on  them  still — the  descen- 
dants of  those  prickly  sires  which  were  crimsoned 
by  the  blood  of  battling  Danes  or  Britons  in  the  far 
far  distant  times  of  old. 

But  if  you  sow  any  kind  of  corn  you  must  take  a 
great  deal  of  trouble.  You  must  cleave  open  and 
crumble  the  mould ;  you  must  cover  it  in ;  you 
must   uproot  the  weeds  that   would  choke  it,  and 

A 


2  THE  AEK  OF  BULRUSHES. 

• 

you  must  drive  away  the  beasts  that  seek  to  devour 
it.  And  the  crop  of  this  season,  if  left  to  itself,  will 
insure  no  successor.  A  few  straggling  ears  may 
survive  for  an  autumn  or  two,  but  presently  there 
is  no  more  trace  of  the  golden  grain  on  your 
neglected  meadow  than  there  would  be  on  the 
sands  of  the  shore. 

At  the  first  God  gave  to  mankind  many  great 
truths  and  lessons :  the  knowledge  of  Himself  as 
the  Father  of  spirits,  holy,  beneficent,  forgiving; 
the  great  rules  of  piety  and  virtue ;  and  above  all, 
the  promise,  so  gracious  and  animating,  of  a  coming 
Deliverer  from  sin  and  from  sorrow — a  promise 
which,  as  a  blessed  element  of  hope  and  elasticity, 
should  keep  man's  face  still  upward,  and  his  heart 
still  strong  for  his  toils  and  trials.  All  these  God 
gave,  and  at  the  first  He  flung  them  broadcast. 
They  were  public  property,  and  at  the  first  were 
intrusted  to  the  general  memory.  But  this  was 
enough  to  show  that  for  saving  truths  the  mind  of 
man  has  ceased  to  be  the  proper  soil ;  for  knowledge 
heaven-descended  earth  is  no  longer  a  congenial 
clime.  "  Thistles  grow  instead  of  wheat."  Ambition, 
revenge,  cruelty,  falsehood,  rapine,  float  tln-ough  all 
the  atmosphere,  and  these  can  spring  up  anywhere : 
not  so  integrity,  truth,  chastity,  respect  for  the  rights 
of  others,  brotherly-kindness  :  and  midway  betwixt 
the  Creation  and  the  Advent  the  world  had  sunk 


THE  AEK  OF  BULRUSHES.  3 

into  sucli  a  depth  of  idolatry  and  immorality  as  to 
make  it  perfectly  plain  that  on  the  self-propagating 
principle  those  precious  seeds  which  had  been 
carried  away  from  Eden  would  soon  disappear 
altogether.  For  the  bread  of  life  there  was  too 
little  appetite  to  intrust  its  preservation  any  longer 
to  the  careless  and  promiscuous  multitude, — the  sin- 
loving,  God-forsaking,  demon-adoring  nations  of 
mankind. 

Accordingly,  at  this  period  the  Most  High,  in  His 
wisdom,  took  means  for  the  conservation  of  the 
priceless  blessing.  Instead  of  dealing  any  longer 
with  the  millions  of  the  race — instead  of  emptying 
garners  of  truth  over  fens  and  swamps  which  en- 
gulfed the  seed  and  yielded  no  return — He  took 
in  "  a  little  piece  of  holy  ground."  He  laid  hold  of 
one  family,  and  selected  it  as  the  recipient  and 
custodier  of  Divine  Eevelation.  By  a  very  remark- 
able process  He  fenced  in  and  secluded  that  family, 
making  it  a  peculiar  people,  dwelling  alone,  and  not 
reckoned  among  the  nations;  and  when  the  great 
purpose  was  answered,  and  the  wall  of  separation 
was  broken  down,  it  was  on  the  hills  of  Palestine 
that  the  handful  of  corn  was  found  which  now 
waves  on  our  English  fields,  and  will  yet  make  all 
tlie  mountains  of  the  earth  like  Lebanon. 

When  trying  to  Christianize  a  deeply  sunken  com- 
munity— Eijians  or  Savage  Islanders — it  is   some- 


4  THE  AEK  OF  BULRUSHES. 

times  a  good  plan  to  get  hold  of  one  or  two  of  the 
natives,  and  bring  them  to  an  adjacent  mission- 
settlement,  where  they  may  be  taught  and  trained, 
and  then,  with  the  help  of  these  native  pioneers,  the 
missionaries  find  their  work  exceedingly  facilitated. 
So  in  His  great  process  of  reclaiming  a  sunken 
world,  the  Lord  laid  hold  of  one  particular  family. 
He  raised  up  the  righteous  man  from  the  East,  and 
called  him  to  His  feet.  From  the  surrounding 
grossness  and  superstition  He  snatched  away  that 
family,  and  after  a  dreary  probation  in  the  desert — 
after  a  long  discipline  in  the  Eeformatory  of  that 
great  wilderness, — He  promoted  it  to  the  pleasant 
school  of  Palestine.  "The  mill  of  God  grinds 
slowly,"  and  it  took  a  thousand  years  before  the 
pupil  nation  was  ready  to  give  its  lesson  to  man- 
kind. But  at  last,  thoroughly  weaned  from  idol- 
atry, with  the  unity  and  the  spirituality  of  the 
Godhead  engraven  on  its  inmost  conviction,  with 
that  essence  of  all  ethics — the  Ten  Commands — 
familiar  as  the  alphabet,  by  daily  usages  inured  to 
those  expiatory  and  mediatorial  ideas  which  lie  at 
the  root  of  God's  method  with  mankind,  and  by 
accumulating  and  converging  prophecies  not  only 
taught  to  expect  the  Saviour,  but  looking  for  His 
arrival  with  nervous  excitement, — above  all,  with 
a  text -book  in  its  hands  infinitely  holier  and  wiser 
than  itself, — the  old  scholar  was  now  ready  to  act 


THE  ARK  OF  BULRUSHES.  5 

the  part  of  teacher  and  evangelist,  and  go  forth  as 
God's  own  missionary,  in  the  person  of  its  more 
enlightened  members  able  to  tell  to  Greeks  and 
Eomans  even  such  unheard-of  wonders  as  Jesus 
and  the  Resurrection. 

A  few  years  ago  we  gave  a  course  of  lectures  on 
the  Father  of  the  Hebrew  Family.  We  now  pur- 
pose to  accompany  in  his  career  the  Founder  of 
the  Hebrew  Nationality — that  great  Liberator  and 
Lawgiver  who  fulfilled  a  more  important  function 
than  any  other  man  in  the  ages  before  Messiah. 

Abraham  and  his  immediate  descendants  were 
shepherds,  and  they  were  that  kind  of  shepherds 
whom  we  call  nomads.  It  was  no  object  of  theirs 
to  cultivate  land  or  build  houses,  or  in  any  way 
improve  the  country  where  they  sojourned.  They 
drove  their  flocks  to  any  spot  where  grass  and  water 
could  be  found,  and  as  soon  as  the  herbage  of  that 
region  was  consumed,  they  packed  up  their  canvas 
village,  and  moved  on  till  pastures  green  invited 
them  to  halt  once  more.  But  with  their  migratory 
habits  they  had  no  inducement  to  sow  fields  and 
plant  vineyards,  nor  did  it  suit  their  purpose  to 
rear  dwellings  of  stone  or  temples  for  worship. 
They  wanted  portable  houses  which  could  accom- 
pany their  cattle ;  and,  if  they  were  rich,  they 
invested  their  wealth  not  in  handsome  buildings 
and  spacious  gardens  and  bulky  furniture,  but  in 


6  THE  ARK  OF  BULRUSHES. 

jewels  and  costly  robes,  which  were  not  cumbrous 
to  carry.  But  for  this  roving  unresting  people 
the  Lord  had  selected  a  land  which  pre-eminently 
needed  settled  habits  and  the  arts  of  mechanic 
industry.  To  treat  Palestine  as  a  mere  sheep-walk 
would  be  to  throw  it  utterly  away.  It  was  "  a  land 
for  wheat  and  barley ;  for  \dnes  and  fig-trees  and 
pomegranates  ;  a  land  of  oil,  olive,  and  honey ;  a 
land  whose  stones  are  iron,  and  out  of  whose  hills 
brass  mic'ht  be  dusr."  But  Jacob  and  his  sons 
were  incapable  of  turning  to  account  such  a  land. 
They  were  neither  horticulturists  nor  farmers  nor 
metallurgists,  and  in  order  to  do  justice  to  their 
goodly  heritage  it  was  needful  that  the  shepherds 
should  learn  to  be  farmers  and  workers  in  stone 
and  in  wood,  in  clay  and  in  metal.  Accordingly, 
He  who  had  pro\-ided  the  land  for  His  people  took 
means  to  prepare  the  people  for  the  land, — means 
wonderfully  marked  by  His  own  foreknowledge 
and  wisdom.  After  giving  the  favoured  family  a 
glimpse  of  their  promised  and  predestined  home, 
the  Lord  removed  them  to  a  land  where  they  might 
be  trained  and  qualified  so  as  to  make  the  most 
of  Palestine  when  once  they  should  obtain  final 
possession.  Egypt  was  then  the  most  advanced 
and  enhghtened  of  all  lands, — its  exhaustless  soil 
waving  with  crops  and  over-canopied  by  palms  and 
pomegranates,  and  its  cities  stupendous  with  colossal 


THE  AEK  OF  BULRUSHES.  7 

temples  and  palaces  in  which  art  emulated  the  im- 
mensity and  indestructibility  of  nature.  Proficients 
in  masonry  and  in  the  fictile  arts,  weaving  that 
fine  linen  which  all  antiquity  regarded  as  a  glory  of 
the  loom,  and  rearing  those  enormous  structures 
which  are  still  a  wonder  to  the  world, — musicians, 
armourers,  jewellers, — there  was  scarcely  an  art 
which  its  industrious  citizens  did  not  practise,  and 
which  might  not  there  be  learned  by  any  ob- 
servant visitor  who  possessed  a  passport  to  their 
favour.  With  such  a  passport  the  Lord  provided 
Jacob  and  his  sons.  "  He  sent  a  man  before  them," 
and  through  the  popularity  and  power  of  Joseph, 
Egypt,  usually  so  jealous  of  strangers,  gave  hearty 
welcome  to  its  benefactor's  kinsmen.  Assigned  a 
region  which  should  be  all  their  own,  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  land  were  before  them,  and  the 
Aholiabs  and  Bezaleels  who  should  arise  were  free 
to  copy  each  Egyptian  craft  and  mystery.^ 

In  the  succinct  Bible  summary,  four  hundred 
years  are  passed  over  in  one  breath,  and  an  ex- 
pression of  Stephen  (Acts  vii.  6)  would  seem  to 
indicate  that  during  all  these  years  the  Israelites 


1  For  practising  some  of  their  acquisitions, — "labour  in  the  field," 
— the  forty  j^ears  in  the  desert  gave  small  opportunity.  But  such 
knowledge  is  transmitted  from  sire  to  son  ;  and  in  the  meanwhile  four 
hundred  years  of  Egj'pt  had  gone  far  to  alter  early  habits  and  change 
the  shepherds  into  agriculturists  and  artificers.  The  Tabernacle,  the 
Golden  Calf,  etc.,  show  that  handicrafts  were  practised. 


8  THE  AEK  OF  BULRUSHES. 

had  been  "  evil- entreated."  But  when  we  look 
into  it  more  carefully,  we  shall  find  that  the  evil 
treatment  only  began  at  the  close  of  the  period. 
As  long  as  Joseph  was  remembered,  and  as  long 
as  the  dynasty  continued  on  the  throne  who  had 
been  so  dee^Dly  Joseph's  debtors,  the  Hebrews 
were  protected  and  befriended.  "  They  were  fruit- 
ful and  increased  abundantly,  and  multiplied  and 
waxed  exceeding  mighty;"  and  far  from  con- 
tinuing cooped  up  in  their  own  Goshen,  they 
spread  over  the  country,  "  and  the  land  was  filled 
with  them."  They  were  so  prosperous  and  so 
exceedingly  numerous  that  at  last  a  sovereign — 
most  likely  of  a  new  race  of  kings — grew  appre- 
hensive of  their  ascendancy.  He  said  to  his  people, 
"Behold,  the  children  of  Israel  are  more  and 
mightier  than  we;"  and  for  fear  that  in  the  event 
of  a  war  they  should  make  common  cause  with  the 
invader,  he  adopted  towards  them  a  rigid  and  re- 
pressive policy.  Their  spirit,  and  their  very  lives, 
he  tried  to  crush  out  by  tremendous  toils ;  and 
when  the  brick-kilns  and  the  burning  sun  were  not 
ridding  him  fast  enough  of  the  dangerous  foreigners, 
he  promulgated  one  of  those  ordinances  which 
make  tyranny  so  terrible,  and  commanded  that 
henceforward  every  male  child  of  Hebrew  parent- 
age should  perish  as  soon  as  born. 

There  have  been  many  commentaries  written  on 


THE  AEK  OF  BULRUSHES.  9 

the  Book  of  Exodus ;  but  by  far  the  most  interest- 
ing and  remarkable  is  one  for  which  we  are  in- 
debted to  Pharaoh  himself — that  pictorial  Bible 
executed  by  order  of  the  kings  of  Egypt,  and 
preserved  for  three  thousand  years  bright  and  clear 
beneath  the  sands  of  the  Libyan  desert.  There  we 
learn  how  Egypt  was  invaded  and  for  a  time  con- 
quered and  held  down  by  a  race  of  shepherd-kings 
from  Arabia — a  disgrace  and  disaster  which  made 
shepherds  an  abomination  to  the  Egyptians,  and 
which  rendered  the  Egyptians  especially  nervous  at 
the  increase  within  their  borders  of  a  shepherd- race, 
the  kinsmen  of  their  shepherd  conquerors.  There 
we  have  preserved  countless  specimens  of  such 
bricks  as  the  Hebrews  made — bricks  sun-dried,  with 
chaff  or  straw  mixed  throughout  their  substance  to 
make  them  more  tenacious.  There  we  have  de- 
picted groups  of  foreign  bondmen,  measuring  out 
the  clay,  moulding  it  into  blocks,  carrying  away 
on  yokes  the  finished  bricks,  and  piling  them  under 
the  eye  of  an  Egyptian  taskmaster,  who,  rod  in 
hand,  sits  at  his  ease  and  looks  on  in  leisure. 
There  too  we  have  numberless  examples  of  the 
arrogance  and  cruelty  of  the  Egyptians,  trampling 
on  the  necks  of  their  enemies ;  and  there  we  read 
inscriptions  on  temples  and  palaces,  boasting  how 
in  the  construction  of  those  gigantic  fabrics  no 
native  Egyptian  had  been  employed,  but  that  they 


10  THE  ARK  OF  BULEUSHES. 

were  all  tlie  work  of  foreigners.  And  there,  "  with 
a  pen  of  iron,  written  in  the  rock  for  ever,"  we  have 
the  Pagan's  attestation  to  a  thousand  minutiae  in 
the  Pentateuch — a  sculptured  panorama  at  which 
we  shall  hereafter  have  occasion  to  glance  when  we 
wish  to  know  the  meaning  of  many  a  scriptural 
allusion,  as  well  as  to  know  the  abode  in  which 
the  hero  of  our  history  spent  the  morning  of  his 
days. 

The  edict  of  Pharaoh  had  not  long  been  issued 
before  it  fell  in  all  its  bitterness  on  a  family  of  the 
house  of  Levi.  In  that  family  there  was  already  a 
boy  three  or  four  years  of  age,  who  had  the  good 
fortune  to  be  born  before  the  reign  of  terror ;  and 
there  was  also  a  little  girl  twice  the  age — a  clever, 
dark-eyed  maiden,  with  a  fine  ear  for  music,  and 
with  her  sensible  active  ways  the  help  and  comfort 
of  her  mother.  But  now,  when  there  ought  to  have 
been  great  joy  in  the  house,  for  another  son  was 
born  into  it,  all  was  hushed  and  silent.  No 
neighbour  came  to  congratulate,  and  it  was  any- 
thing but  pride  which  the  poor  mother  felt  as  she 
gazed  on  her  "  proper  child."  Day  after  day 
passed  on,  and  every  day  the  babe  grew  more 
endearing  and  more  beautiful ;  but  every  day  made 
concealment  more  difficult.  It  was  a  wonder  that 
no  spy  nor  informant  had  yet  found  out  the  fatal 
secret ;    every    foot-fall    at    the    door  sent  panic 


THE  AEK  OF  BULKUSHES.  1 1 

tlirongli  the  house  ;  and  sometimes  it  was  impos- 
sible to  hush  those  infant  outcries,  which,  if  over- 
heard, would  attract  the  murderer  to  the  cradle  and 
be  the  death  of  every  one  of  them.  This  anxiety 
could  not  last.  The  babe  was  three  months  old, 
when  one  day  Jochebed  took  a  basket  of  papyrus, 
such  as  might  have  long  been  used  for  household 
purposes,  and  began  to  make  it  ready.  As  with 
pitch  she  filled  the  chinks  and  made  it  water- 
tight, as  she  lined  the  interior  with  bitumen,  and 
smoothed  and  polished  it  so  carefully,  the  tears  ran 
down,  and  the  little  Mary  wondered  what  her 
mother  could  intend  to  do  with  it.  At  last  all  was 
finished,  and  in  the  early  morning  they  set  off  for 
the  river-side.  Jochebed  told  her  daughter  what 
the  basket  was  intended  for,  and  you  may  be  sure 
it  was  with  a  bursting  heart  that  the  sister  thought 
of  the  likely  fate  of  that  baby-brother  whom  she 
had  so  often  helped  to  nurse  and  dandle.  But  here 
was  a  quiet  spot  on  the  water's  edge,  where  the 
reeds  grew  tall  and  the  current  hardly  came ;  and 
why  not  here  ?  "  By  faith  her  child  had  been  hid 
three  months,"  notwithstanding  "  the  king's  com- 
mandment," and  the  same  faith  which  had  kept  up 
the  timid  mother's  heart  through  many  real  dangers 
and  false  alarms  had  moved  her  to  prepare  this 
ark ;  and  although  the  shore  was  desolate  and  the 
crocodiles  were  hungry — though   her  cheeks  were 


1 2  THE  ARK  OF  BULRUSHES. 

pale  and  the  sword,  was  piercing  through  her  soul, 
— that  true  daughter  of  Abraham  still  could  trust 
in  G-od,  and  cherished  in  her  heart  some  vasue 
hope  of  which  her  "  prepared  ark "  was  sign  and 
sacrament.  And  now,  the  last  meal  given,  and  the 
babe  adjusted  in  his  new  strange  cradle,  the  last 
kiss  imprinted  on  his  broad  untroubled  brow,  and 
the  last  look  of  maternal  agony  upturned  towards 
Israel's  God,  Miriam  took  her  hidden  post  of  ob- 
servation and  the  wife  of  Amram  tore  herself 
away. 

But  she  had  not  long  been  home  when  Miriam 
burst  into  the  house,  too  wild  and  agitated  to  tell 
aU  the  happy  tale,  but  bidding  her  mother  haste 
and  come.  And  there,  sure  enough,  they  were — a 
group  of  ladies  grandly  dressed  around  the  weep- 
ing boy,  and  one  of  them  the  king's  own  daughter, 
and  from  amidst  her  laughing,  wondering  maidens, 
turning  round  to  Jochebed,  the  princess  said,  "  Take 
this  child  and  nurse  it  for  me,  and  I  will  give  thee 
thy  wages."  Oh  what  an  evening  that  would  be  in 
Amram's  cottage  !  How  eagerly  they  all  by  turns 
would  embrace  and  coax  the  little  outcast !  How 
secure  the  joy  of  the  happy  mother  as  she  clasped 
her  own  darling,  safe  beneath  the  shadow  of  the 
throne  !  How  often  would  Miriam  tell  over  the 
adventures  of  the  morning ;  her  "  frights"  with 
vultures  and  with  what  at  first  seemed  crocodiles  ; 


THE  AKK  OF  BULEUSHES.  13 

her  wonder  when  the  five  ladies  came  at  last  in 
sight,  walking  along  the  bank,  whether  they  would 
notice  anything,  and  how  she  rather  thought 
that  they  would  have  passed  on,  if  just  then  the 
baby  had  not  begun  to  cry;  and  how  she  herself 
had  contrived  to  come  up  as  if  by  chance  at  the 
very  moment,  and  how  the  princess  looked  so  good 
and  pitiful,  and  how  she,  the  sensible  and  self- 
possessed  little  Miriam,  had  offered  to  run  and  get 
a  nurse  for  the  noisy  unappeasable  foundling ! 
And  oh  !  how  heartfelt  would  be  the  thanksgiving 
to  the  God  of  Abraham  which  arose  that  evening 
from  beneath  the  roof  of  that  humble  Hebrew 
dwelling,  for  the  lost  one  had  been  found;  this  their 
son  who  had  been  dead  was  alive  again ;  the  ark 
of  bulrushes  was  transformed  into  a  golden  cradle, 
and,  guided  by  a  Hand  Divine,  had  landed  its  help- 
less freight  in  no  monster's  jaws,  but  on  the  very 
steps  of  Pharaoh's  throne. 

Singular  preservations  like  this  have  marked  the 
infancy  of  many  who  afterwards  grew  memorable. 
Every  one  will  recall  the  story  of  Eomulus  and 
Eemus,  nursed  by  a  wolf,  and  thus  preserved  to 
lay  the  foundations  of  Eome  and  the  Eoman  empire; 
and  the  readers  of  Herodotus  will  remember  how  he 
tells  that  Astyages  ordered  his  infant  grandson  to 
be  thrown  out  into  the  wilderness,  but  how  a  shep- 
herd's wife,  whose  own  babe  was  dead,  adopted  the 


14  THE  ARK  OF  BULRUSHES. 

"goodly  child," -^  and  so  saved  from  the  liysenas 
that  Cyrus  who  was  to  create  the  Medo-Persian 
monarchy,  and  fill  so  large  a  space  in  history.  And 
every  one  is  now  familiar  with  the  legend  of  om^ 
own  king  Arthur,  revived  as  it  has  been  by  the 
Laureate  : — 

"  No  man  knew  from  whence  he  came  ; 
But  after  tempest,  when  the  long  wave  broke 
All  down  the  thundering  shores  of  Bude  and  Boss, 
There  came  a  day  as  still  as  heaven,  and  then 
They  found  a  naked  child  upon  the  sands 
Of  wild  Dundagil  by  the  Cornish  sea ; 
And  that  was  Arthur  ;  and  they  fostered  him 
Till  he  by  miracle  was  appro ven  king."^ 

Conceding,  however,  that  these  tales  are  legends, — 
confused  echoes,  possibly,  from  the  story  now  under 
consideration, — it  is  well  to  note  how  often  in  their 
precarious  outset  precious  lives  have  been  preserved 
from  imminent  danger,  and  sometimes  by  wdiat  we 
deem  a  trivial  circumstance.  In  the  beginning  of 
last  century,  in  the  house  of  a  London  tradesman, 
a  babe  was  born  wdio  looked  so  inanimate  and 
insignificant  that  it  was  taken  for  granted  he  was 
dead,  when  afterwards  gazing  at  the  tiny  form  an 
attendant  noticed  a  gentle  movement  in  the  chest, 
and  her  efforts  were  rewarded  by  fostering  into  life 

^  Like  Moses,  rb  iraidiov  juiya  re  /cat  eieidh. — Herod,  i.  112. 

2  Tennyson's  Idylls,  p.  240.  For  similar  stories  see  Suetonii 
Augustus,  c.  95,  and  the  Tamul  tale  (referred  to  by  Ewald)  in  B. 
Schmid's  Zerstreute  Blatter  (1843),  st.  2. 


THE  AEK  OF  BULRUSHES.  1 5 

the  author  of  The  Rise  and  Progress.  Contemporary 
with  Philip  Doddridge  there  was  growing  up  in  a 
parsonage  of  Lincolnshire  a  hoy  of  great  promise 
who  had  already  reached  his  sixth  summer,  when 
the  rectory  took  fire ;  all  awoke  in  time  and  saved 
themselves,  but  the  little  boy  was  forgotten,  or 
rather,  it  was  left  to  God  Himself  to  save  him,  and 
the  "  brand  plucked  from  the  burning"  grew  up  to 
be  the  founder  of  English  Methodism.  A  poor 
woman  in  the  town  of  Stirling  sprang  up  from  her 
spinning-wheel  with  an  impression  on  her  mind 
that  her  child  had  fallen  into  a  neighbouring  well. 
She  was  just  in  time  to  snatch  hold  of  a  lint- white 
head  which  had  not  yet  disappeared,  but  which  was 
no  child  of  her  own  but  the  minister's  son.  Tommy 
Eandall,  afterwards  abundantly  known  as  the  bene- 
volent and  noble-minded  Dr.  Davidson  of  Edin- 
burgh. 

We  forget  it  as  regards  ourselves,  but  we  see  and 
feel  it  in  our  children.  Surely  a  special  Providence 
superintends  them,  and  in  their  hands  angels  bear 
them  up,  lest  at  any  time  they  dash  their  foot  against 
a  stone.  Playing  with  the  cockatrice  ;  putting  their 
hand  on  the  lion's  mane  ;  making  toys  of  edge-tools, 
and  rolling  down-hill  live  shells ;  scrambling  up 
precipices,  and  falling  out  from  open  windows ; 
swept  a  helpless  bundle  down  the  swollen  torrent, 
or  picked  up  from   beneath   the   carriage-wheels ; 


16  THE  ARK  OF  BULRUSHES. 

restored  from  desperate  sickness  or  preserved  amidst 
frigrhtful  accidents, — what  mother  is  there  who,  at 
some  moment,  has  not  felt  like  the  Alpine  peasant 
when  she  saw  the  eagle  sailing  overhead  with  her 
infant  in  its  talons  ?  Who  that  has  not  once  and 
again  shrieked  out  in  helpless  agony,  and  then  wildly 
laughed  or  wept  at  the  marvellous  preservation  ? 
AVho  is  there  that  has  a  son  grown  up  who  does  not 
acknowledge  that  he  is  the  child  of  Providence  ? 
And  who  is  there  that  has  grown  up  himself  but 
says  with  Addison  : — 

*'  When  in  the  slipp'ry  paths  of  yoiitli 

With  heedless  steps  I  ran  ; 
Thine  arm,  unseen,  convey'd  me  safe, 

And  led  me  up  to  man  : 
Through  hidden  dangers,  toils,  and  deaths. 

It  gently  clear'd  my  way  ; 
And  through  the  pleasing  snares  of  vice, 

More  to  be  feared  than  they." 

Nobody  knows  the  original  name  of  Amram's 
second  son  ;  the  name  his  parents  gave  him  became 
entirely  superseded  and  absorbed  in  the  name  which 
the  princess  gave  him.  And  so  any  prized  posses- 
sion which  we  have  succeeded  in  acquiring,  or  in 
long  retaining,  has  attached  to  it,  usually  speaking, 
some  circumstance  of  wonder  or  surprise  in  its 
bestowment  or  restoration.  From  a  thing  so  small 
as  some  earthly  possession,  up  to  a  thing  so  great  as 
the  salvation  of  the  soul,  it  is  a  salvage  from  the 


THE  ARK  OF  BULRUSHES.  1  7 

flames ;  like  Joshua  the  high  priest,  "  a  brand 
plucked  from  the  fire  : "  it  is  a  gift  from  the  flood, 
you  name  it  Moses,  and  say,  "  Because  I  drew  it  out 
of  the  water." 

The  time  of  Moses'  birth  is  one  of  the  most  in- 
structive incidents  in  this  history.  "We  have  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  the  exterminating  edict  of 
the  king  remained  in  force  for  any  considerable 
period.  It  did  not  exist  when  Moses'  own  brother 
was  born,  three  or  four  years  before,  and  if  it  had 
been  in  active  operation  for  any  length  of  time,  it  is 
utterly  impossible  that  there  could  have  been  600,000 
grown-up  males  ready  to  accompany  Moses  in  the 
march  from  Egypt.  Much  likelier  is  it  that  this 
was  one  of  those  frantic  expedients  to  which  des- 
potism resorts  in  a  moment  of  rage,  and  which  after 
a  while  its  myrmidons  cease  to  execute,  and  are 
right  in  their  calculation  that  it  will  not  be  renewed. 
Not  improbably  the  decree  became  a  dead  letter 
soon  after  Moses  was  taken  up  and  adopted  by 
Pharaoh's  daughter,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
it  had  only  newly  come  forth  when  Moses  was  born. 
In  any  case,  it  was  the  most  dismal  moment  in  the 
history  of  Israel's  bondage — the  very  noon  of  Hebrew 
night ;  and  it  was  the  moment  when  the  man  was 
born  who  should  put  an  end  to  it  all.  Israel's 
extremity  was  God's  opportunity ;  and  the  wrath  of 
Pharaoh  wrought  the  purpose  of  Jehovah.  But  for 
B 


1 8  THE  AEK  OF  BULRUSHES. 

tliat  bloodthirsty  decree  the  son  of  Amram  miglit 
have  grown  up  a  peasant  and  a  bondsman,  but  this 
decree  promoted  him  to  the  palace,  and  trained 
him  to  be  the  deliverer  of  his  countrymen,  the 
conqueror  of  Egypt,  and  the  death  of  Pharaoh's 
successor. 

Such  is  God's  method.  The  darker  the  cloud,  the 
more  brilliant  the  rainbow;  the  wilder  the  storm, 
the  more  welcome  the  haven ;  the  more  desperate 
the  danger,  the  more  delightful  is  the  sense  of 
deliverance  and  the  more  rapturous  the  thanks  of 
the  rescued.  And  so  in  His  wisdom  the  Most  High 
sometimes  allows  His  people  to  reach  the  sorest 
pass  before  He  breaks  the  silence  and  makes  bare 
His  mighty  arm.  Not  only  does  He  allow  the  bottle 
to  be  spent,  but  the  dying  boy  to  be  cast  away 
beneath  the  bushes,  before  Hagar's  eyes  are  opened 
on  the  well.  Not  only  does  He  allow  Joseph  to  be 
sold  into  slavery,  but  to  be  flung  into  a  dungeon  and 
forgotten,  before  He  calls  him  to  the  steps  of  the 
throne  and  the  smiles  of  the  raonarch.  Not  only 
does  He  suffer  the  Holy  Land  to  be  invaded,  but 
Jerusalem  to  be  hopelessly  invested,  before  the  angel 
of  death  spreads  his  wings  and  exterminates  the 
host  of  Sennacherib.-^  Not  only  does  He  permit  the 
plot  against  the  Jews  to  mature,  but  the  scaffold 
for  Mordecai  is  erected,  before  God  gives  the  signal, 

^  Oosterzee,  p.  10. 


THE  ARK  OF  BULRUSHES.  19 

and  on  His  people's  enemies  executes  vengeance. 
Not  only  does  He  permit  a  hostile  king  to  take  the 
crown,  but  He  lets  the  bondage  begin,  and  the  brick- 
kilns glow  fiercer,  and  the  murderous  edict  come 
forth,  before  the  knell  of  tyranny  is  rung,  and  Moses 
is  born.  And  so,  if  you  have  a  clear  precept  to 
start  you  off,  and  plain  promises  to  keep  you  going, 
do  not  fear  though  the  path  should  grow  precarious 
and  narrow,  do  not  flinch  though  dangers  should 
swarm  and  multiply.  It  is  the  valley  of  Achor, 
trouble  in  every  step,  and  a  wall  of  rock  in  front, — 
a  rock  which  no  agility  can  climb  nor  any  strength 
can  penetrate.  But  in  faith  and  fearlessness  go  for- 
ward, and  as  you  reach  the  barrier  a  door  of  hope 
will  open,  and  usher  you  into  an  elysium  of  repose 
or  a  paradise  of  beauty.  If  you  have  a  plain  intima- 
tion of  God's  will,  you  need  be  afraid  of  no  king's 
commandment,  for  that  God  in  whom  you  trust  will 
find  means  to  protect  His  own  ;  and  when  He  has 
a  purpose  to  fulfil  He  can  make  the  Nile-monster  a 
nursing  mother,  and  for  Pharaoh's  victims  create  a 
shield  in  Pharaoh's  daughter. 

So  we  leave  safely  landed  the  little  papyrus  boat, 
the  ark  of  bulrushes, — which  grows  mystic  as  we 
gaze,  and  makes  us  think  of  other  arks  which  have 
gone  God's  voyages,  and,  like  the  babe  that  sailed 
away  from  a  bond-mother's  arms  to  the  bosom  of  a 
princess,  have   carried  their  freight  to  a  brilliant 


20  THE  AEK  OF  BULRUSHES. 

haven.  And  not  so  mucli  that  colossal  ark,  which 
from  out  of  a  cursed  and  God-forsaken  world,  and 
across  the  ferry  of  the  Flood,  carried  Noah  and  his 
family  into  that  new  and  more  favoured  world 
which  God  would  curse  no  more,  and  on  which,  in 
the  person  of  Incarnate  Deity,  unimagined  blessing 
was  destined  to  descend :  not  so  much  of  it  as 
of  that  other  ark  in  which  this  great  advent 
was  effected — the  manger  which,  not  to  Egyptian 
maids,  but  to  Eastern  sages,  disclosed  not  Moses, 
but  Messiah,  that  infant  of  days  whose  name 
should  expand  into  "  The  Wonderful,  the  Coun- 
sellor, the  mighty  God;"  and  who,  emerging  from 
that  manger,  is  ascended  to  the  right  hand  of  the 
Father,  a  Prince  and  a  Saviour,  and  will  return 
on  His  great  white  throne.  And  it  makes  us  think 
of  that  papyrus  ark  to  which  infinite  wisdom  has 
intrusted  the  revelation  of  Himself — the  parchment 
scroll,  the  paper  book,  the  poor  frail  vehicle  which, 
launched  on  the  tide  of  Time,  has  had  so  many 
escapes  from  the  chances  of  the  stream,  as  well  as 
the  fury  of  its  foes,  but  is  now  escaped  from  the 
house  of  bondage,  and  made  a  blessing  to  all  nations. 
And  as  we  see  the  mournful  mother  carrying 

*'  Her  babe,  close  cradled  in  her  arms, 
To  Nile's  green  sloping  shore," 

and  intrusting  it  to  the  unfriendly-looking  flood, 
little  witting  of  the  surprise  which  in  a  few  hours 


THE  ARK  OF  BULRUSHES.  21 

awaited  her,  so  we  think  of  the  rapture  that  awaits 
many  a  Christian  parent,  who  in  tears  has  stood 
over  that  sorrowful  ark,  the  cof&n  of  her  child,  and 
think  of  her  joy  and  her  wonder  when  the  loved 
one,  who  in  the  earthly  dwelling  makes  ''  a  blank 
so  large,"  is  recognised  in  the  palace  of  Heaven's 
own  King. 


11. 


^he  Ji^thtr  of  ChibaltB* 

*'  Moses  .  .  .  was  mighty  iu  words  and  in  deeds." 

Acts  vii.  22. 

A  MAGNIFICENT  land  was  the  Egypt  in  the  midst 
of  which  Moses  grew  up.  With  an  atmosphere 
clear  and  dry,  with  a  soil  which  no  harvests  could 
exhaust,  with  towns  and  temples  at  every  bend  of 
the  river  emerging  from  the  midst  of  the  great 
garden  into  which  the  surface  had  been  carefully 
cultured,  and  with  its  bountiful  Nile  flowing  on 
beneath  the  scented  lotus,  or  spreading  over  the 
plain,  with  all  the  wealth  of  its  far-travelled  waters, 
nothing  could  be  a  more  perfect  symbol  of  prosperity 
and  self-sufficing  abundance,  whilst  a  peculiar  archi- 
tecture imparted  to  it  all  an  air  of  wonderful  gran- 
deur. That  architecture  was  chiefly  monuments  and 
temples.  The  abodes  of  the  living  were  sufficiently 
simple,  but  all  the  wealth  and  genius  of  the  country 
were  exerted  to  embody  their  ideas  of  immortality, 
and  to  do  homage  to  the  powers  unseen.  Already, 
in  the  days  of  Moses,  the  pyramid  of  Cheops  had 


THE  FATHER  OF  CHIVALRY.  23 

stood  for  nearly  a  thousand  years — a  mountain  of 
masonry  a  furlong  in  length  and  breadth;  and  in 
temples  which  covered  acres  of  land,  and  where 
colossal  figures  towered  up  a  hundred  feet  in  height, 
sculpture  did  its  best  to  rescue  kingly  memories 
from  the  tooth  of  Time,  and  awaken  in  the  specta- 
tor's mind  awful  ideas  of  the  immense  and  invisible, 
so  that  all  the  opulence  and  activity  of  the  present 
were  visibly  linked  to  a  remote  and  stupendous 
past,  and  through  the  sunny  stir  of  the  passing  hour 
there  fell  constant  and  gigantic  shadows  from  the 
surrounding  "  silent  land." 

The  people  who  then  inhabited  this  country, — and 
since  then  three  millenniums  and  a  half  have  passed 
away, — were  more  refined  and  intelligent  than  any 
race  of  which  we  possess  the  memorials.  But  when 
we  say  this  we  speak  of  the  privileged  orders :  for 
just  as  the  soil  was  the  property  of  the  sovereign,  so 
learning  was  the  monopoly  of  the  priests  or  profes- 
sional caste,  and  in  all  likelihood  the  mass  of  the 
people  were  as  poor  and  ignorant  as  they  usually 
were  under  all  the  ancient  despotisms.  But  by  the 
arrangements  of  Providence  Moses  was  brought  up  a 
member  of  the  privileged  class.  Adopted  by  one  of 
the  royal  family,  his  princess-mother  obtained  for 
him  the  best  instructors.  He  would  be  taught  to 
read  the  curious  character  to  which  Egyptian  sages 
had  consigned  their  speculations  and  their  learning, 


24  THE  FATHER  OF  CHIVALRY. 

and  his  own  meditations  he  would  be  taught  to  con- 
sign to  a  scroll  of  papyrus.  In  that  geometry  which 
the  land-surveying  exigencies  of  their  inundated 
land  made  so  necessary,  and  in  the  cognate  astro- 
nomy in  which  they  were  wonderful  adepts,  it  is 
likely  that  he  would  be  in  due  time  initiated; 
and  from  the  fact  that  he  was  afterwards  able 
to  reduce  a  golden  image  to  dust,  it  has  been 
surmised  that  he  was  no  stranger  to  the  pro- 
cesses of  their  practical  chemistry,  which  had  already 
presented  them  with  glass  and  bronze  and  many 
pure  and  exquisite  pigments.  At  the  same  time  it 
is  right  to  confess  that  a  great  deal  of  that  Egyptian 
wisdom  was  the  merest  foolishness,  and,  if  Moses 
ever  mastered  it,  it  would  seem  to  have  dropped 
from  the  memory  of  his  more  enlightened  years,  as 
baby  gewgaws  drop  from  the  open  hand  of  man- 
hood ;  and  of  their  historical  m}i:hology  there  is  no 
more  trace  in  the  Book  of  Genesis  than  there  is  in  the 
worship  of  Jehovah  trace  of  their  ridiculous  idolatry. 
But  Moses  was  not  only  a  scholar ;  as  years  went 
on  he  had  an  opportunity  of  earning  distinction  as  a 
warrior.  According  to  Josephus,  and  we  have  no 
reason  to  doubt  the  correctness  of  his  statement,  the 
Ethiopians  made  an  incursion  into  Egypt,  and 
routed  the  army  which  was  sent  to  resist  them. 
Panic  spread  over  the  country,  and  Pharaoh  trembled 
at  the  approach  of  the  swarthy  savages,  who  were 


THE  FATHER  OF  CHIVALRY.  25 

already  close  to  Memphis.  The  oracles  were  con- 
sulted; that  is  to  say,  advice  was  asked  from  the 
best-informed  and  most  sagacious  body  of  men  in 
the  capital, — the  heads  of  the  priesthood  ;  and,  well 
aware  of  his  remarkable  abilities,  they  advised  that 
the  command  should  be  intrusted  to  INFoses.  He 
immediately  took  the  field,  and  by  a  rapid  though 
round-about  march  surprised  the  enemy,  defeated 
them  with  heavy  slaughter,  drove  them  back  into 
their  own  territories,  and  followed  them  up  so  hard, 
capturing  one  city  after  another,  that  they  found  no 
asylum  till  they  reached  the  swamp-girdled  city  of 
Meroe.  Here  Moses  lay  down  with  his  army,  and 
would  have  found  the  blockade  both  tedious  and 
difficult  had  he  not  happened  to  gain  the  affections  of 
an  Ethiopian  lady,  w^hom  he  promised  to  marry  pro- 
vided she  put  them  in  the  way  to  gain  possession  of 
the  city.  Her  admiration  of  the  handsome  Hebrew 
was  too  strong  for  her  patriotism,  and  the  conqueror 
returned  from  his  triumphant  campaign,  bringing 
with  him  his  sable  princess  and  the  spoils  of  Meroe, 
and  filling  the  minds  of  all  his  fellow-countrymen 
with  hope  and  exultation.-^ 

The  substantial  truth  of  this  statement  there  is 
no  reason  to  doubt.  It  could  be  no  invention  of 
Josephus,  and  it  is  adopted  by  Irenaeus,  a  Christian 
father  of  the  second  century,  and  receives  incidental 

^  Josephus,  Antiquities,  book  ii.  chap.  10. 


26  THE  FATHER  OF  CHIVALRY. 

confirmation  from  tlie  fact  that  Stephen  speaks  of 
Moses  as  "  miglity  in  words  and  in  deeds!' — a  man 
of  brilliant  achievements  whilst  still  a  resident  at 
the  Egyptian  court,  and  it  is  still  more  confirmed  by 
Moses  himself,  who  casually  mentions  that  his  wife 
was  a  native  of  Ethiopia.^  With  the  capacity 
which  Moses  had  by  this  time  abundantly  indicated, 
and  with  the  position  which  he  occupied  so  near 
the  person  of  the  sovereign,  nothing  could  be  more 
natural  than  to  intrust  him  with  the  command  of  an 
important  expedition ;  nor  is  the  probability  dimi- 
nished by  the  hint  which  Josephus  gives,  that  the 
counsellors  who  suggested  it  calculated  on  one  if  not 
both  of  two  alternatives  :  they  were  bound  to  hope 
that  Moses  might  rid  Egypt  of  the  invader ;  if  not, 
they  would  not  be  sorry  that  the  invaders  should 
rid  themselves  of  an  unwelcome  rival  and  the  court 
of  Pharaoh  of  a  powerful  and  dangerous  upstart. 

In  some  respects  the  nearest  modern  counterpart  to 
Moses  was  that  great  Prince  of  Orange  known  to  his- 
tory as  William  the  Self-contained  or  Silent.  Like 
Moses,  the  son  of  a  pious  mother,  her  lessons  were 
not  lost,  but  for  a  long  time  they  continued  latent. 
Like  Moses,  he  soon  left  his  home,  and  in  early 
boyhood  became  a  page  to  the  great  Emperor 
Charles  the  Fifth.  The  shrewd  old  Kaiser  soon 
perceived  the  wonderful  depth  and  quickness  of 
the  child,  and  by  the  time  he  was  fifteen  years  of 

1  Numb.  xii.  1. 


THE  FATHER  OF  CHIVALRY.  27 

age,  the  page  had  become  a  sort  of  privy  coun- 
cillor— present  at  the  most  confidential  interviews, 
and  master  of  all  the  Emperor's  policy.  Under  the 
ablest  tutor  of  the  time,  he  learned  a  science  far 
more  arduous  than  Egyptian  hieroglyphics,  till  he 
could  read  at  a  glance  the  hearts  of  princes, 
and  from  the  lies  of  statesmen  could  enucleate 
their  meaning  and  their  motive ;  and  under  the 
greatest  captain  of  the  age  he  learned  to  be 
the  cautious  campaigner  and  the  resourceful  war- 
rior ; — such  a  favourite  pupil  that  when  the 
famous  abdication  took  place  it  was  on  William's 
shoulder  that  the  feeble  Emperor  leaned  his  hand 
whilst  addressing  the  States- General.  Charles  re- 
signed— Charles,  who  with  his  exterminating  edicts 
and  remorseless  executions  had  been  a  Pharaoh 
to  the  Protestants  ;  Charles  resigned,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  a  Pharaoh  of  narrower  intellect  and 
harder  heart — Philip  the  Second.  But  all  this 
while  William  was  the  gay  and  hilarious  courtier, 
captivating  every  acquaintance  by  his  exquisite 
address,  and  charming  wide  circles  by  the  bright 
overflow  of  spirits  on  which  no  burden  pressed. 
When  one  day  hunting  with  the  King  of  Prance 
in  the  forest  of  Vincennes,  as  the  two  rode  along 
together,  Henry  told  William  of  a  secret  league  into 
which  Henry  of  Prance  had  entered  with  Philip 
of  Spain  to  extinguish  Protestantism  throughout 
Europe,  by  extirpating  every  Protestant.     Too  good  a 


28  THE  FATHER  OF  CHR^\LRY. 

diplomatist  to  gasp  or  change  colour  at  the  astound- 
ing disclosure,  William  rode  on  and  finished  the 
hunt ;  but  took  the  first  opportunity  to  gallop  off 
with  his  terrible  secret.  The  doom  that  hung  over 
his  fellow-subjects  in  Holland  roused  all  his  patriot- 
ism, and  by  and  bye  the  lessons  of  his  pious  mother 
revived  in  his  emancipation  from  Popery;  and 
turning  to  account  the  lessons  of  soldiership  and 
diplomacy  which  he  had  learned  from  his  grim  old 
tutor,  in  the  hand  of  God  he  became  the  instrument 
to  shatter  the  Eomish  league,  to  stultify  the  Pope, 
to  roll  back  the  hosts  of  Philip,  to  break  the  yoke 
of  Spain,  and  lead  forth  to  freedom  the  Seven 
United  Provinces, — the  Moses  of  a  modern  Exodus. 
So  we  can  quite  conceive  that  it  was  his  very 
success  which  precipitated  the  decision  of  the  son 
of  Amram  and  expedited  his  flight  from  the  halls 
of  Pharaoh.  With  his  acknowledged  ability,  with 
his  influential  position,  and  still  more  with  his 
military  renown,  it  would  have  been  natural  for 
his  compatriots  to  look  up  to  him  as  their  guardian 
and  protector ;  and  "  he  supposed  his  brethren 
would  have  understood  how  that  God  by  his  hand 
would  deliver  them."^  But  if  "  his  brethren  "  under- 
stood not,  the  more  perspicacious  Egyptians  would 
form  their  own  conclusion,  and  the  unscrupulous 
Pharaoh  would  have  his  fears.  As  the  Jewish 
antiquarian  tells  us,  "  After  being  saved  from  the 

1  Acts  vii.  25. 


THE  FATHER  OF  CHIVALRY.  29 

Ethiopians  by  Moses,  the  Egyptians  began  to  hate 
him,  and  feared  that  he  might  stir  np  sedition  and 
effect  a  revolution  in  the  land;  and,  instigated 
by  the  sacred  scribes,  the  king  at  last  sought  to 
slay  him."  The  fear  was  not  preposterous.  These 
Hebrews  had  a  mysterious  aptitude  for  rising ;  and 
as  a  slave  of  this  nation  had  once  risen  to  be  vice- 
roy, who  could  tell  but  this  fortunate  foundling 
might  aspire  a  step  higher,  and  seek  to  be  king  ? 
He  had  already  commanded  an  army,  and  were 
there  not  scattered  through  the  land  half  a  million 
of  his  brethren  ready  to  rise  at  his  summons  ? 

In  any  case  his  growing  importance  made  de- 
cision more  urgent,  and  if  he  was  to  continue  at 
court,  if  he  was  to  insure  his  own  safety,  there 
was  now  no  option  :  he  must  conform  to  the  estab- 
lished religion,  he  must  bow  to  the  idols,  he  must 
become  out  and  out  an  Egyptian.  It  was  a  solemn 
alternative.  On  the  one  side,  Egypt  with  its  trea- 
sures, the  prospect  of  rising  to  the  highest  rank  in 
a  nation  the  most  renowned  and  the  proudest  of 
the  earth,  the  society  of  sages,  the  splendours  of  a 
palace,  the  glories  of  a  princely  equipage  passing 
through  the  admiring  populace  amidst  shouts  of 
"  Bow  the  knee  !"  and,  on  the  other,  Goshen,  with 
its  slaves,  the  fellowship  of  thralls,  with  aU  gene- 
rosity and  spirit,  all  taste  and  intelligence  crushed 
out  of  them,  with  bread  of  tears  in  lieu  of  royal 
dainties,  and  instead  of  floating  down  the  Nile  in 


30  THE  FATHER  OF  CHIVALFcY. 

a  golden  barge  amidst  the  strains  of  voluptuous 
music,  scorching  in  the  brick-field  amidst  the 
groans  of  companions  in  captivity.  But  these 
bondmen  were  his  brethren ;  their  God,  and  not 
Osiris,  was  the  true  God ;  and  afflicted  and  de- 
pressed as  they  presently  were,  their  God  had  pro- 
mised to  deliver  them ;  and  who  could  tell  but  He 
mioht  honour  Moses  himself  to  be  their  deliverer  ? 

o 

So  farewell  Memphis  ;  farewell  kind  foster-mother ; 
farewell  gloomy  and  fitful  Pharaoh ;  farewell,  ye 
dreams  of  ambition  ;  ye  prospects  of  greatness  and 
pleasures  of  sin,  farewell ! 

A  noble  decision  !  Affliction  with  the  people  of 
God  he  preferred  to  the  pleasures  of  sin,  and  re- 
proach as  one  of  Messiah's  people  he  deemed  greater 
riches  than  the  treasures  in  Egypt.  And  the 
sequel  proves  him  right.  The  day  that  he  re- 
nounced his  earthly  prospects  God  served  him  heir 
to  an  inheritance  incorruptible  and  which  fadeth 
not  away ;  and  for  ages  past  his  solitary  name  has 
outshone  all  the  monarchs  combined  of  the  one-and- 
thirty  dynasties. 

On  his  benevolent  errand  he  reached  the  head- 
quarters of  his  countrymen.  He  examined  into  their 
circumstances,  and  found  their  position  abundantly 
degraded  and  distressing.  No  doubt  he  did  what  he 
could  to  comfort  them,  and  if  he  had  brought  away 
aught  of  his  wonted  wealth  from  the  capital,  we  may 


THE  FATHER  OF  CHIVALRY.  31 

be  sure  that  words  would  not  be  bis  only  consola- 
tion;  but  as  he   "looked   on   their  burdens"  his 
generous   spirit   boiled  with  indignation,    and    he 
could  ill  repress  the  inward  rage  awakened  as  coarse 
ruffians  jeered  and  buffeted  his  brethren,  and,  like 
"  dumb,  driven  cattle,"  forced  to  their  tasks  with 
heavy  blows  steps  weak  with  age  or  staggering  with 
infirmity.     At  last  he  came  up  one  day  as  one  of 
these  sturdy  tyrants  was  striking  a  Hebrew,  possibly 
a  kinsman  of  his  own.^     With  a  quick  glance  he 
satisfied  himself  that  there  were  no  witnesses  in 
sight,  and,  Hebrew  as  he  was,  he  stepped  forth  his 
brother  s  champion.     To  Moses  the  man  "  mighty  in 
deeds,"  it  was  a  small  affair  to  fell  the  caitiff,  and  a 
few  moments  sufficed  to  obliterate  all  trace  by  hiding 
the  body  in  the  sand.    But  oppression  demoralizes  its 
victims.     In  taking  his  own  high  spirit  as  the  rule, 
Moses  miscalculated  the  mettle  of  his  countrymen. 
Not  only  was  there  no  readiness  to  rise  against  their 
taskmasters,  but   there  was  no  honourable  feeling 
amongst   themselves.     The  man  whom  his   ready 
stroke  had  rescued  from  blows  and  bruises,  and  per- 
haps from  death,  had  compromised  his  benefactor's 
life  by  noising  abroad  the  matter ;   and  when  on 
a  subsequent  occasion  he  sought  to  separate  two 
Hebrew  combatants,  he  was  met  with  the  rough 
retort,  "  Who  made  thee  a  prince  and  a  judge  over 

1  Ex.  ii.  11—"  One  of  his  brethren." 


32  THE  FATHER  OF  CHIVALllY. 

US  ?  Intendest  thou  to  kill  me,  as  thou  killedst  the 
Egyptian?"  And  soon  finding  that  the  affair  had 
reached  the  ears  and  roused  the  wrath  of  Pharaoh, 
nothing  remained  to  Moses  but  to  seek  safety  in 
flight. 

For  his  subsequent  asylum  Moses  was  indebted 
to  Eastern  hospitality  and  his  own  chivalry.  Of 
that  hospitality  the  traces  still  continue  in  these 
unchanging  regions.  A  French  traveller  (M.  Pou- 
joulat)  who  had  made  himself  at  home  in  the  desert, 
tells  us  how  he  one  day  rode  up  to  the  tent  of  a 
sheikh  near  Hebron.  "  I  am  tired  with  my  journey, 
and  when  I  saw  your  tents  I  blessed  God."  "  You 
are  welcome,"  replied  the  sheikh ;  "  a  guest  is  a 
favour  from  Heaven  ;  rest  you  in  safety."  And  find- 
ing, on  longer  acquaintance,  what  an  enthusiast  for 
Arab  life  was  his  visitor,  how  he  preferred  the  tents 
of  Kedar  to  the  palaces  of  Prance,  the  old  Bedouin 
would  not  allow  him  to  go  away ;  and  it  was  only 
on  the  third  morning  that  he  could  extricate  himself 
from  the  affectionate  embrace  of  the  Arab,  who 
asked  him,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  "  Why  leave  me  ? 
My  tent  and  my  flock  shall  be  yours,  and  if  you 
wish  to  have  a  wife,  there  is  my  daughter,"  ^ 

In  some  such  fashion  was  Moses  invited  into  the 
tent  of  the  priest  or  chieftain  of  Midian,  only  that 
he  had  rendered  a  service  which  well  entitled  him 

1  "  Corresp.  d'Orient,"  quoted  in  Migue's  Dictionnaire  de  la  Bible. 


THE  FATHER  OF  CHIVALRY.  33 

to  a  distinguished  reception.  He  had  now  fairly 
escaped  from  Egypt,  and  had  nothing  to  fear  from 
Pharaoh,  but  he  was  a  houseless  wanderer — 

"  The  world  was  all  before  hira,  where  to  choose 
His  place  of  rest,  and  Providence  his  guide." 

That  Providence  conducted  him  to  a  silent  and 
lonely  region  beyond  the  nearer  branch  of  the  Eed 
Sea — a  district  extremely  desolate  and  solemn — 
lofty  mountains  raising  their  sharp  ribs  and  bald 
summits  far  into  the  sky ;  and  where,  if  his  bag  of 
dates  and  water-sack  were  not  spent,  the  pilgrim 
might  pass  many  days  without  ever  encountering 
the  "  human  face  divine  ;"  seldom  a  living  creature 
to  be  seen  except  the-  lizard  looking  timidly  from 
under  the  stone,  or  a  coney  as  timid  venturing  forth 
for  a  furtive  nibble  in  the  cool  of  the  day ;  seldom  a 
sound  to  be  heard,  except  the  rare  murmur  of  the 
bee  among  the  acacia  blooms,  or  the  tinkle  of  the 
sand  as  it  slid  tunefully  down  the  slopes  of  the 
granite — the  desert's  musical  hour-glass — an  oratory 
vast  and  tranquil  and  unprofaned,  and  with  its  ab- 
sence of  idols  pleasant  contrast  to  Egypt — where,  for 
the  next  forty  years,  Moses  was  destined  to  spend 
many  a  day  of  exalted  communion  with  Abraham's 
God  and  his  own ;  and  where,  before  the  history 
ended,  he  should  see  the  mountains  shake,  and  hear 
those  hushed  valleys  re-echo  to  the  trumpet  of 
angels  and  the  voice  of  Jehovah. 


34  THE  FATHER  OF  CHIVALRY. 

One  day  lie  had  readied  a  little  oasis.  There  was 
pasture  in  the  district,  and  if  there  were  people  they 
would  be  sure  to  come  to  the  well.  As  Moses  sat 
waiting,  the  first  who  arrived  were  seven  sisters, 
who  proceeded  to  draw  water  from  the  well  and 
pour  it  into  a  trough,  that  the  sheep  might  get 
their  daily  drink ;  but  they  had  no  sooner  filled  the 
trough  than  a  set  of  rude  fellows  came  up  and  drove 
forward  their  flock  to  appropriate  the  precious  supply. 
With  his  native  gallantry  and  his  high-spirited  re- 
sistance to  wrong,  Moses  felt  outraged,  and  whether 
it  was  awe  for  the  magnificent  man,  or  respect  for 
his  Egyptian  uniform,  the  churls  fell  back  and  con- 
ceded to  the  terrible  stranger  what  they  would  not 
have  yielded  to  manly  feeling,  or  even  the  more 
commonplace  regard  for  fair  play :  a  characteristic 
action  which  introduced  its  gallant  author  to  Eaguel 
or  Jethro,  and  which  was  rewarded  with  a  home  in 
a  good  man's  house,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  family 
where  the  true  God  was  feared  and  worshipped. 

We  hereafter  read  that  "the  man  Moses  was 
exceeding  meek."  At  first  sight  the  actions  which 
we  have  now  been  observing  seem  hardly  con- 
sistent with  such  a  character,  and,  like  that  son  of 
thunder  and  summoner  of  fire  from  heaven  who 
softened  down  into  the  beloved  and  loving  apostle, 
we  might  be  apt  to  suppose  that,  in  the  case  of 
Moses,  the  hot  spirit  of  the  youthful  soldier  had 


THE  FATHER  OF  CHIVALRY.  35 

mellowed  down  at  last  into  the  meekness  of  the 
law-giver.  'Tis  possible ;  yet  we  are  loath  to 
concede  that  the  ingredients  are  incompatible : 
courage  on  the  one  side,  with  instant  and  energetic 
resistance  to  the  wrong  inflicted  on  others ;  and  on 
the  other  side  patience,  gentleness,  and  much 
endurance.  As  the  great  Lord  Erskine  said,  "  I 
never  knew  a  man  remarkable  for  heroic  bearing 
whose  very  aspect  was  not  lighted  up  by  gentleness 
and  humanity ;  nor  a  kill- and- eat-Tiim  countenance 
that  did  not  cover  the  heart  of  a  bully  or  poltroon." 
And  so  to  our  conception  the  man  Moses  with  the 
meekness  or  magnanimity  which  could  bear  any 
amount  of  personal  abuse  and  obloquy,  but  with 
blood  ready  to  rush  up  in  the  cause  of  the  op- 
pressed and  feeble,  in  the  quarrel  of  weak  women 
or  down-trampled  slaves,  counting  no  odds  and 
fearing  no  consequence,  stands  forth  the  highest 
type  of  heroism,  the  presage  of  what  in  later  times 
came  to  be  known  as  Christian  chivalry. 

And,  my  friends,  a  chivalry  truly  Christian  is 
one  of  the  noblest  forms  which  goodness  can 
assume ;  and  although  what  commonly  goes  by  the 
name  was  soon  caricatured  and  perished,  in  its 
origin  it  was  a  noble  effort.  On  the  trunk  of  old 
Teutonism  it  w^as  an  effort  to  engraft  the  Christian 
graces;  those  rugged  blood-splashed  warriors  from 
Scandinavian  fiords  and  German  forests,  so  fierce 


36  THE  FATHER  OF  CHIVALRY. 

and  cruel  that  when  Ultilas  translated  the  Bible 
into  Gothic  he  left  out  the  wars  of  the  Israelites 
for  fear  of  worse  inflaming  their  thirst  of  slaughter 
— it  was  an  effort  to  soften  into  manliness  those 
bulls  of  Bashan,  an  effort  to  take  up  and  turn  into 
right  channels,  and  thus  to  sanctify,  the  martial 
instinct,  so  deep  in  hot  redundant  natures.  So 
after  watching  his  arms  in  a  church  all  night — 
after  musing  and  praying  over  the  high  career 
before  him — on  the  morrow  when  the  knight  was 
to  receive  his  spurs  he  placed  his  hands  between 
the  hands  of  the  sovereign,  and  swore  "  to  speak 
the  truth,  to  succour  the  helpless  and  oppressed, 
and  never  to  turn  back  from  an  enemy" — or,  as  it 
was  sometimes  expanded, 

*'  To  teach  the  heathen  and  uphold  the  Christ ; 
To  ride  abroad  redressing  human  wrongs, 
To  speak  no  slander,  no,  nor  listen  to  it, 
To  lead  sweet  lives  in  purest  chastity, 
To  love  one  maiden  only,  cleave  to  her, 
And  worship  her  by  years  of  noble  deeds, 
Until  they  won  her."^ 

And  although,  as  we  have  said,  human  depravity 
proved  too  strong  for  knightly  vows — although  by 
and  bye  some  orders  had  to  be  broken  up  for  their 
intolerable  crimes,  and  the  system  itself  became  a 
fair  subject  for  ridicule — in  its  outset  the  institu- 
tion went  far  to  humanize  Europe  and  redeem  its 

1  Tennyson's  Idylls. 


THE  FATHER  OF  CHIVALRY.  37 

most  dismal  era.  And  in  order  to  understand  wliat 
was  the  ideal,  what  was  expected  from  the  wearer 
of  the  hard- won  badge,  we  have  only  to  read  the 
descriptions  in  our  older  minstrelsy.  For  example, 
take  Chaucer : — 

*'  A  knight  ther  was,  and  that  a  worthy  man, 
That  fro  the  time  that  he  firste  began 
To  riden  out,  he  loved  chevalrie, 
Trouthe  and  honour,  fredom  and  curtesie. 
And  of  his  port,  as  meke  as  is  a  mayde, 
He  never  yet  no  vilanie  ne  sayde 
In  alle  his  lif,  until  no  manere  wight, 
He  was  a  veray  parfit  gentil  knight." 

And  of  a  type  still  higher  the  hero  of  the  first  book 
of  the  Faery  Queen : — 

"  A  gentle  knight  was  pricking  on  the  plaine, 
Yclad  in  mightie  armes  and  silver  shielde.   .  .  . 
And  on  his  brest  a  bloodie  crosse  he  bore, 
The  deare  remembrance  of  his  dying  Lord, 
For  whose  sweete  sake  that  glorious  badge  he  wore, 
And  dead,  as  living,  ever  him  adored  : 
Upon  his  shield  the  like  was  also  scored, 
For  soveraine  hope,  which  in  his  helpe  he  had. 
Right,  faithfull,  true  he  was  in  deed  and  word  ; 
But  of  his  cheere  did  seeme  too  solemn  sad ; 
Yet  nothing  did  he  dread,  but  ever  was  ydrad." 

It  is  true  that  in  as  far  as  the  defence  of  the 
weak,  generosity,  truth,  and  a  lofty  standard  of 
personal  purity  constituted  chivalry,  there  was 
nothing  in  that  institution  which  was  not  already 
in  Christianity ;  but  it  was  of  some  consequence  in 
those   regardless    times    to    have    even   a  limited 


38  THE  FATHER  OF  CHIVALKY. 

number  of  virtues  canonized  and  surrounded  by  the 
highest  sanctions.  And  the  fruits  were  fair.  It 
was  from  a  true  feeling  of  chivahy  that,  when  his 
favourite  son  broke  his  parole  and  escaped  from  the 
Tower  of  London,  John  of  France  took  the  place  of 
the  runaway  hostage  and  died  a  prisoner  in  Eng- 
land. It  was  from  the  same  feeling  that  when 
Edward  the  Third  was  about  to  put  to  death  the 
citizens  of  Calais,  the  angry  monarch  who  had 
resisted  other  intercession  felt  constrained  to  grant 
the  demand  of  his  good  Queen  Philippa.  "  Dame, 
I  wish  you  had  been  somcAvhere  else ;  but  I  cannot 
refuse  you.  I  put  them  at  your  disposal."  It  was 
the  same  feeling  which,  on  the  eve  of  the  battle  of 
Ivry,  induced  Henry  of  Navarre  to  go  up  to 
Colonel  Schomberg  and  apologize  for  some  hasty 
word,  "  in  case  I  don't  survive,"  and  which  led  the 
gallant  German  to  stammer  forth,  "  Ah,  sire  !  you 
kill  me  with  your  words ;  for  now  there  is  nothing 
for  me  but  to  die  in  your  defence,"  as  next  day  he  did, 
in  rescue  of  the  king,  and  before  his  eyes.  And  the 
same  knightly  sentiment  it  was — not  the  less  noble 
for  being  Christian — which  on  the  field  of  Zutphen, 
when  the  flask  of  water  was  held  to  the  lips  of  the 
dying  Sydney,  and  he  noticed  the  wistful  look  of  the 
bleeding  soldier  near  him,  pushed  it  away  with  the 
words,  "  Give  it  to  that  man,  his  need  is  greater 
than  mine."  .     ■ 


THE  FATHER  OF  CHIVALRY.  39 

Such  things  are  no  doubt  older  than  mediaeval 
chivalry, — some  of  them,  we  think,  as  old  as  Moses, 
and  all  of  them  as  old  as  that  Divine  model  from 
whose  inspiring  example,  through  channels  suffi- 
ciently tortuous  and  turbid,  they  originally  came. 
But  something  is  due  to  the  system  which  in  days 
dark  and  savage  caught  up  a  few  of  those  graces 
which  once  encircled  the  brow  of  Absolute  Good- 
ness, and  entwining  them  together  taught  rough 
warriors  to  contend  for  the  chaplet  of  knightly 
renown.  And  right  sorry  should  we  be  if  in  stand- 
ing up  for  the  absent  or  feeble,  if  in  forgiving  the 
fallen,  if  in  fulfilling  his  promise,  if  in  commanding 
his  passions,  the  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ  did  not 
show  that  piety  is  the  supreme  of  nobleness,  and 
that  the  Christian  is  the  flower  of  chivahy. 

For  example :  Championship  is  chivalrous.  Scenes 
like  what  Moses  witnessed  are  of  frequent  occur- 
rence ;  but  when  the  bludgeoned  Egyptian  smites 
the  unarmed  Hebrew,  w^hen  great  hulking  clowns 
water  their  flocks  at  troughs  which  feeble  women 
have  filled,  there  is  not  always  a  Moses  at  hand  to 
punish  the  miscreants  and  redress  the  wrong.  On 
such  occasions  be  the  Moses  yourself:  stand  up 
for  the  weak  and  the  weaponless.  Your  absent 
acquaintance  is  disparaged,  or  a  man  of  worth  who 
is  no  acquaintance  at  all — by  your  silent  displeasure 
or  outspoken  defence  let  it  be  seen  that  in  you  the 


40  THE  FATHER  OF  CHIVALRY. 

absent  have  a  constant  advocate.  In  tlie  public 
vehicle  some  solitary  traveller,  poor  sempstress  or 
servant-girl,  is  annoyed  by  the  rude  gaze  or  ruder 
remarks  of  some  low-minded  passenger,  change 
places  with  her,  or  reprove  the  ruffian  outright ; 
and  you  need  not  be  afraid,  these  coarse  fellows  are 
so  cowardly.  Or  some  unfortunate  neighbour  can- 
not get  his  rights,  by  that  most  terrible  tyrant, 
English  Law,  confused,  contradictory,  uncodified, 
with  all  its  torture-chambers — Courts  of  Exchequer, 
Courts  of  Queen's  Bench,  Courts  of  Chancery  :  by 
its  tremendous  intimidation  in  the  hands  of  unprin- 
cipled rapacity  the  rights  of  the  widow  and  the 
fatherless  are  withheld  : — if  with  the  help  of  any 
good  angel  in  a  long  black  robe  you  could  overturn 
the  throne  of  iniquity  and  recover  the  spoils  of 
injustice ;  or,  better  still,  if  you  could  explode  the 
whole  system  of  legal  oppression,  Hercules  with  his 
hydra,  George  with  his  dragon,  would  be  champions 
less  worthy  than  you;  England  would  thank  for 
ever  the  great  legal  reformer  who  smote  its  Egyp- 
tian, and  hid  him  in  the  sand. 

Or  say,  Generosity.  When  after  the  great  fight 
of  Crecy  the  prince  bestowed  500  merks  a  year  on 
Lord  Audley,  it  was  deemed  a  noble  deed  when  he 
at  once  divided  them  among  the  four  valiant  friends 
to  whom  he  felt  that  his  success  was  owing.  And 
so,  few  things  should  be  better  understood  in  this 


THE  FATHER  OF  CHIVALRY.  41 

our  day  than  pure  and  disinterested  conduct  in 
regard  to  money.  Like  Moses  coming  away  from 
the  treasures  of  Egypt,  show  plainly  that  you  have 
elsewhere  a  better  and  enduring  substance.  Show 
plainly  that  if  there  are  occasions  on  which  you  do 
not  grudge  to  give  wealth  away,  there  are  ways  in 
which  you  disdain  to  make  it. 

Having  mentioned  as  an  attribute  of  Christian 
nobleness  forbearance  to  the  fallen — and  it  comes 
from  the  original  code  of  honour,  the  statute-book 
of  that  Grand-Master  who  said,  "  If  thine  enemy 
hunger,  feed  him," — I  shall  end  with  an  instance 
taken  from  no  book  of  heraldry,  but  from  the 
humble  annals  of  a  Scottish  minister.  The  Spanish 
Armada  created  great  consternation  in  Scotland ; 
but  one  morning  James  Melville  awoke  to  find  one 
of  the  magistrates  of  Anstruther  at  his  bedside  with 
the  news  that  a  shipful  of  Spaniards  was  in  the 
harbour  in  great  distress,  and  the  captain  ashore. 
"  Up  I  got  with  diligence,  and  there  presents  us  a 
very  reverend  man,  of  big  stature,  grey-haired,  and 
very  humble-like,  who,  after  meikle  courtesy,  bow- 
ing close  with  his  face  near  the  ground,  and  touch- 
ing my  shoe  with  his  hand,  began  his  harangue  in 
the  Spanish  tongue."  Of  that  the  purport  w^as  the 
wreck  of  the  Armada  and  the  straits  to  which  they 
themselves  were  driven.  "  I  answered  that  how- 
beit  neither  our  friendship  (which  could  not  be 


42  THE  FATHER  OF  CHIVALEY. 

great,  seeing  tlieir  king  and  they  were  friends  to 
Christ's  greatest  enemy,  the  Pope  of  Eome),  nor  yet 
their  cause,  against  our  neighbours  and  special 
friends  of  England,  could  procure  any  benefit  at  our 
hands,  nevertheless  they  should  know  that  we  were 
men,  moved  by  human  compassion,  and  Christians 
of  better  religion  nor  they.  For  whereas  our  people 
resorting  amongst  them  on  peaceable  and  lawful 
affairs  of  merchandise,  were  taken  and  cast  into 
prison,  their  goods  and  gear  confiscated,  and  their 
bodies  committed  to  the  cruel  flaming  fire  for  the 
cause  of  religion,  they  should  find  amongst  us 
nothing  but  Christian  pity  and  works  of  mercy." 
Accordingly  the  laird  of  Anstruther  received  Don 
Gomez  and  the  other  officers  into  his  house,  and 
entertained  them  generously,  whilst  the  crew  and 
soldiers,  to  the  number  of  260,  were  regaled  during 
their  stay  with  such  food  as  the  place  could  supply. 
It  is  pleasant  to  know,  what  Melville  adds,  "  This 
Don  Gomez  showed  great  kindness  to  a  ship  of  our 
town  which  he  found  arrested  at  Cadiz  at  his  home- 
coming, rode  to  court  for  her,  made  great  praise  of 
Scotland  to  his  king,  took  the  honest  men  to  his 
house,  inquired  for  the  laird  of  Anstruther,  for  the 
minister,  and  his  host,  and  sent  home  many  com- 
mendations."^ 

1  James  Melville's  Diary,  260-264. 


III. 


By  faith  Moses,  Avlien  he  was  come  to  years,  refused  to  be  called 
the  son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter  ;  choosing  rather  to  suffer  affliction 
with  the  people  of  God,  than  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a 
season  ;  esteeming  the  reproach  of  Christ  greater  riches  than  the 
treasures  in  Egypt :  for  he  had  respect  unto  the  recompense  of  the 
reward.  By  faith  he  forsook  Egj^pt,  not  fearing  the  wrath  of  the 
king  :  for  he  endured,  as  seeing  him  who  is  invisible." — Heb.  XI. 
24-27. 


When  Hercules  had  grown  up  lie  went  out  into 
a  solitary  place  to  muse  over  his  future  course  of 
life.  After  a  while  he  saw  two  female  figures 
approaching  ;  the  one  in  white  apparel,  with  a  noble 
aspect,  open  and  innocent ;  the  other  painted  and 
bedizened,  and  looking  to  see  if  people  looked  at 
her.  As  they  drew  nearer,  this  last  ran  briskly  up, 
and  was  the  first  to  accost  him  : — "  Oh,  Hercules,  I 
see  that  you  are  perplexed  about  your  path  in  life. 
If  you  will  make  a  friend  of  me,  I  shall  conduct 
you  the  smoothest  and  most  charming  road.  You 
wiU  not  be  troubled  with  business,  or  battles,  or 
tasks  of  any  kind ;  but  your  whole  study  shall  be 
where  to  find  the  best  wines  and  the  nicest  dishes, 


44  THE  MOMENTOUS  CHOICE. 

the  newest  scents  and  the  most  fashionable  clothes, 
the  merriest  companions  and  the  most  exciting 
amusements.  And  you  need  take  no  trouble  about 
the  whereivithal,  for  if  you  will  surrender  to  my 
guidance  there  are  friends  and  familiars  of  mine 
who  will  take  care  to  provide  the  supplies."  "  And 
pray,  madam,"  said  Hercules,  "  what  may  be  your 
name?"  "My  name,"  she  replied,  "is  Pleasure, 
although  my  enemies  have  nicknamed  me  Vice." 

Then  said  the  other  :  "  Hercules,  I  knew  your 
parents ;  and  from  what  I  saw  of  you  in  your  boy- 
hood I  am  sure  you  are  capable  of  noble  deeds  ;  but 
I  must  not  deceive  you  with  delusive  promises.  As 
the  Higher  Powers  have  arranged  the  world,  you  can 
hope  for  nothing  good  or  desirable  without  labour. 
If  you  want  the  gods  to  be  your  friends,  you  must 
serve  them ;  if  you  want  to  be  loved  by  your 
acquaintances,  you  must  make  yourself  useful ;  if 
you  want  your  field  to  be  fruitful,  you  must  till  it ; 
if  you  want  to  be  honoured  by  all  Greece,  you  must 
do  it  some  great  service  ;  if  you  wish  to  be  a  mighty 
warrior,  setting  free  your  friends  from  chains  and 
slavery,  you  must  take  lessons  from  some  good 
soldier  ;  you  must  learn  to  bring  the  body  into  sub- 
jection, and  must  submit  to  discipline." 

It  was  a  frank  statement,  but  there  was  in  the 
speaker  a  truth  and  winsomeness  which  at  once 
secured  the  honest  heart  of  Hercules,  and  he  rose  up 


THE  MOMENTOUS  CHOICE.  45 

to  follow  Virtue  along  the  rugged  path  to  immor- 
tality.^ 

The  choice  of  Hercules  was  no  myth  in  the  case 
of  Moses.  He  had  only  to  continue  as  he  was,  and 
he  had  everything  that  heart  could  wish.  He  had 
only  to  conform  to  the  wishes  of  the  kind-hearted 
Thermuthis,  and  his  future  was  already  made.  A 
palace  was  his  home,  royal  dainties  were  his  daily 
fare,  pages  and  lackeys  were  around  to  anticipate 
his  every  wish,  and  there  was  nothing  to  restrain 
the  love  of  amusement  or  the  appetite  for  sensual 
indulgence. 

But  at  whatever  period  he  first  learned  it,  Moses 
had  come  to  know  that  he  was  no  Egyptian.  Be- 
like he  had  learned  it  from  his  parents  early.  His 
parents  were  believers.  It  was  from  their  "  faith  " 
in  God,  and  in  all  probability  from  some  special 
revelation  regarding  their  remarkably  beautiful  child, 
that  they  had  ventured  to  conceal  him  so  long  ;  and 
after  his  wonderful  preservation  and  promotion,  it 
is  not  likely  that,  either  for  their  own  sake  or  their 
people's  sake,  they  would  hide  from  him  his  birth 
or  his  hoped-for  destiny.  At  all  events,  in  due  time 
Moses  came  to  know  it,  and  the  decision  to  which 
he  came  is  one  of  the  most  heroic  things  in  history. 
But,  like  all  the  higher  feats  of  heroism,  its  motive 
and  inspiration  was  his  faith.     God  had  promised  to 

1  Xenophon,  Memorabilia,  ii.  1. 


46  THE  MOMENTOUS  CHOICE. 

Abraham,  "  In  thee  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  families 
of  the  earth  be  blessed  ; "  and  Jacob  had  died  pre- 
dicting, "  The  sceptre  shall  not  depart  from  Jndah 
till  that  Shiloh  come  to  whom  all  nations  shall 
rally."  And  this  Moses  believed.  He  believed  that 
the  poor  down- trampled  people  in  Goshen  were 
greater  than  their  tyrants  and  taskmasters.  He 
believed  that,  broiling  out  there  amongst  the  brick- 
kilns, were  slaves  whose  descendants  would  throw 
into  the  shade  all  the  pomp  and  power  of  Pharaoh. 
Above  all,  he  believed  that  the  true  God  was  none 
of  those  idols  on  whom  Egypt  wasted  its  worship, 
and  to  whom  it  erected  fanes  so  imposing ;  but  he 
believed  that  the  one  living  God  was  that  unseen 
Creator  whom  his  fathers  had  worshipped,  of  whom 
he  had  never  seen  any  image  or  symbol,  who  had 
built  his  own  temple  in  the  universe,  and  Avho  to 
Abraham  had  foretold,  "  Thy  seed  shall  be  four 
hundred  years  a  stranger  and  a  servant  in  a  foreign 
land ;  and  afterward  I  shall  punish  their  oppressors, 
and  bring  out  themselves  with  great  substance."  ^ 
And,  acting  on  this  belief,  he  refused  to  be  called  the 
son  of  the  princess.  No  doubt  she  thought  it  per- 
verse, nor  could  his  companions  admire  his  taste. 
To  avow  such  base  connections  they  thought  mean- 
spirited  and  abject,  and  the  very  thing  of  which 
Moses  gloried  as  his  nation's  destiny  had  become  a 

1  Gen.  XV.  13,  14. 


THE  MOMENTOUS  CHOICE.  47 

subject  of  derision.  It  seemed  a  pleasant  fancy — a 
Messiah  emerging  from  these  mud-fiehls,  a  sovereign 
of  mankind  who  should  boast  for  his  ancestry  hod- 
men and  brick-bakers;  and  in  the  mouths  of  the 
heartless  but  humorous  Egyptians  the  hope  of  Israel 
had  become  a  taunt  and  a  byword.  But  Moses 
believed  it,  and  "  the  reproach  of  Christ  "  was  to  him 
greater  riches  than  the  treasures  in  Egypt ;  and,  in 
circumstances  far  more  trying,  he  made  a  choice 
more  noble  than  the  son  of  Alcmena,  for  he  not  only 
preferred  virtue  with  all  its  hardships  to  sin  with  all 
its  pleasures,  but  renounced  all  that  this  world  could 
offer,  for  the  sake  of  a  people  who  had  nothing 
earthly  to  ofTer  in  return. 

The  choice  of  Moses  was  an  act  of  faith.  It  was 
"  through  faith  that  he  refused  to  be  called  the  sou 
of  Pharaoh's  daughter;"  just  as  it  was  "through 
faith  "  that  his  parents  hid  him.  And  this  is  well 
explained  by  what  afterwards  is  added :  "  He 
looked  away  to  the  future  recompense ; "  "  he  en- 
dured,"— he  held  out  or  bore  up, — "  as  seeing  Him 
who  is  invisible."  There  was  an  attraction  in  the 
pleasures  of  sin  ;  but  Moses  looked  away  from  these 
allurements  to  pleasures  higher  and  more  enduring. 
There  was  terror  in  the  monarch's  frown,  but  Moses 
took  refuge  from  it  in  the  smile  of  a  mightier 
Potentate.  And  this  was  faith.  '  Had  he  merely 
closed  his  eyes  on  the  charms  of  Egypt, — had  he 


48  THE  MOMENTOUS  CHOICE. 

merely  steeled  his  nerves  against  tlie  threats  of 
Pharaoh, — it  might  have  been  manly  or  noble- 
minded  ;  but  besides  that  without  faith  he  was  not 
likely  to  have  done  it  at  all,  through  faith  he  could 
afford  to  do  it  cheerfully.  God  had  opened  his 
eyes  and  shown  him  in  heaven  a  better  and  en- 
during substance,  so  he  could  lay  down  without  a 
sigh  a  chain  of  gold  or  even  a  kingly  crown.  God 
had  opened  his  ear,  and  through  all  the  din  and 
angry  demonstration,  like  father  Abraham  before 
him,  a  sustaining  voice  upheld  him, — "  Fear  not,  for 
/  am  thy  shield  ; "  and  though  the  idols  of  On  were 
so  awful  to  their  votaries,  and  though  Pharaoh  had 
an  army  at  his  beck,  the  Lord  on  high  was  mightier 
than  all,  and  Moses  went  through  with  it  serenely, 
sublimely,  "  as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible." 

Prom  time  to  time  the  Lord  allows  to  take  place 
like  trials  of  the  faith  of  His  people.  In  the  reign 
of  Louis  XIV.  the  Protestants  were  the  flower  of 
France,  just  as  France  was  then  the  foremost  of 
nations.  Owing  to  their  superior  intelligence  and 
morality  the  Huguenots  had  got  into  their  own 
hands  a  large  share  in  the  trade  and  the  largest 
share  in  the  manufactures  of  the  kingdom.  They 
were  prosperous  and  wealthy  and  increasing,  when 
a  decree  came  forth  proscribing  the  Protestant 
religion  and  prohibiting  all  Protestant  worship.  By 
a   double    stroke    of    despotism    every  Protestant 


THE  MOMENTOUS  CHOICE.  49 

minister  was  banished,  every  Protestant  layman  was 
interdicted  from  leaving  the  kingdom.  But  whilst 
the  Calvinistic  laity  were  kept  at  home,  they  were 
ordered  to  consign  their  children  to  the  care  of 
Eomish  teachers,  they  were  forbidden  to  employ  any 
but  Eomish  servants  in  their  families,  and  death 
was  denounced  on  those  who  should  attend  any 
other  than  Eomish  worship.  For  the  faith  of  some 
these  penalties  were  too  awful,  and  they  yielded  and 
conformed.  But  a  glorious  army  preferred  the 
reproach  of  Christ,  and  showed  that  they  were  not 
afraid  of  the  king's  commandment.  They  loved 
their  beautiful  France,  and  they  hardly  hoped  to  find 
another  land  with  an  air  so  elastic  and  with  an  in- 
spiration so  gladsome  and  gay  :  but  France  was  not 
heaven,  and  after  a  few  years  of  the  better  country 
the  fogs  of  England  and  Holland  would  be  forgotten. 
They  loved  the  home  of  their  fathers,  and  grudged 
to  surrender  to  the  Papist  and  stranger  the  fields 
they  had  bought  with  their  earnings  and  the 
orchards  they  had  planted  for  their  children.  And 
some  of  them,  like  Eapin  and  Savery,  and  Lyonnet 
and  Basnage,  were  scholars  and  men  of  science,  and 
they  grieved  to  leave  behind  them  the  libraries  and 
learned  reunions  of  Paris.  And  the  attempt  was 
dangerous.  If  intercepted  they  were  doomed  to  the 
galleys ;  that  is,  for  the  rest  of  their  days  they  were 
chained  two  and  two  on  benches  in  long  flat  boats, 

D 


50  THE  MOMENTOUS  CHOICE. 

and  obliged  to  row  with  long  heavy  oars,  unsheltered 
from  the  weather,  and  allowed  no  other  bed  at  night 
than  the  bench  to  which  they  were  fastened  by  day. 
Yet,  looking  anxiously  at  it,  they  saw  no  alternative. 
To  return  to  Popery  would  be  to  deny  the  Lord  who 
bought  them,  and  even  if  caught  and  consigned  to 
the  galleys,  it  would  be  better  to  "  suffer  afiliction 
with  the  people  of  God  than  to  .enjoy  the  pleasures 
of  sin  for  a  season."  And  so  by  faith  they  forsook 
France,  not  fearing  the  wrath  of  the  king,  and  the 
sentinels  whom  he  had  posted  along  the  frontiers. 
Hid  amongst  bales  of  goods  on  ship-board,  or  in 
empty  casks  with  only  the  bung-hole  to  breathe 
through;  venturing  to  sea  in  open  boats  without 
provisions  in  wintry  weather,  with  nothing  to  give 
their  famished  children  but  the  falling  snow ;  fine 
ladies  disguised  as  market-women,  and  trundling 
barrows  along  the  miry  roads ;  grey-headed  nobles 
driving  cattle,  or  travelling  by  night  and  lurking  in 
barns  or  caverns  all  day, — three  hundred  thousand 
of  them  earned  their  recompense  of  reward,  and  if 
they  impoverished  France  they  have  ennobled 
Europe,  and  enriched  the  records  of  the  faith  by 
their  martyr-like  migration. 

Events  like  these— the  decision  of  Moses,  the 
flight  of  the  French  Huguenots,  the  death  of  our 
own  worthies, — God  permits  from  time  to  time  as 
trials  of  his  people's  faith  and  tokens  of  His  own 


THE  MOMENTOUS  CHOICE.  51 

power  to  support  and  carry  tliroiigli.  And  tliey  are 
of  great  value  as  tests  or  touclistones  of  our  own 
sincerity,  and  as  incentives  to  our  own  devotedness. 
Have  we  a  faith  like  theirs  ?  From  the  things  pre- 
sent do  we  look  away  to  the  future  recompense  ? 
And  amidst  all  the  witnesses  of  our  conduct,  do  we 
remember  that  great  Spectator  who  is  invisible  ? 

The  lesson  is  especially  significant  to  those  who 
are  in  the  outset  of  their  career,  and  who  have  not 
yet  given  themselves  to  God.  Let  us  look  at  it  as 
calmly  and  yet  as  carefully  as  we  can. 

Perhaps  you  don't  much  like  the  people  of  God. 
You  say  that  they  are  dull  and  melancholy,  cen- 
sorious and  severe,  narrow-minded  and  bigoted, 
and  that  you  cannot  take  to  them  at  all.  Well,  you 
certainly  are  not  bound  to  love  gloom  and  moroseness 
and  uncharitable  partisanship,  and  it  is  to  be  re- 
gretted if  the  Christians  you  have  met  are  marred 
by  such  infirmities.  They  would  be  far  nobler 
characters  and  much  worthier  of  their  name  if  they 
were  bright  and  open,  expansive  and  magnanimous. 
And  that  is  the  sort  of  Christian  which  the  Lord 
asks  you  to  become, — upright  and  manly,  brave  and 
truth-loving,  with  a  mind  as  highly  cultured  as 
you  please,  but  with  a  pure  heart  and  a  fervent.  It 
is  not  so  much  with  God's  people  as  with  God  Him- 
self that  you  have  to  do,  and  His  claims  are  para- 
mount.    To  Him  give  your  heart.     He  asks  it,  He 


52  THE  MOMENTOUS  CHOICE. 

deserves  it,  and  if  you  have  a  heart  to  give,  and  hold 
•it  back  from  infinite  excellence, — if  you  have  a  heart 
to  give,  and  refuse  it  to  your  best  Benefactor, — there 
may  be  blemishes  in  Christians,  but  amongst  true 
Christians  there  is  no  one  with  ingratitude  so  base 
and  rebellion  so  dark  as  yours  ;  there  is  no  one 
saying  to  the  best  of  Beings,  "Depart  from  me," 
none  turning  his  back  like  you  on  the  Friend  of 
sinners. 

Hard  words  and  strong,  but  I  fear  too  true  :  for 
if  conduct  speaks  as  well  as  words,  is  not  this  the 
language  of  your  life? — "0  God,  I  do  not  love 
Thee.  I  wish  Thou  wert  not  so  holy ;  I  wish  Thou 
wouldst  not  haunt  me.  I  sometimes  try  to  love 
Thee  by  hoping  that  Thou  art  kind  and  easy  and 
indulgent  to  the  foibles  of  poor  wretches.  But  when 
I  turn  to  the  Bible  my  mind  shuts  up :  I  cannot 
love  a  God  so  righteous,  strict,  and  true."  Is  not 
this  the  language  of  your  life  ? — "  0  Christ,  I  cannot 
thank  Thee.  That  kingdom  of  heaven  which  Thou 
didst  open  is  not  one  into  which  I  desire  to  enter. 
That  heaven  which  Thou  didst  purchase  has  no 
attractions  for  me,  except  as  the  only  asylum  from 
hell.  If  it  was  to  save  from  sin  that  Thou  didst 
die,  I  have  no  present  wish  for  such  salvation." 

And  this  brings  out  what  is  possibly  the  main 
point  after  all :  "  the  pleasures  of  sin."  I  have  no 
doubt  that  Christ's   great   competitor  is   Sin,   and 


THE  MOMENTOUS  CHOICE.  53 

if  it  were  not  for  some  habit,  evil  and  inveterate, 
perhaps  the  most  of  men  would  be  Christians. 

I  cannot  agree  with  those  who  speak  as  if  sin  had 
no  pleasures.  Surely  all  experience  is  against 
them.  Probably  the  consciousness  of  many  here 
contradicts  them.  If  there  were  not  something 
very  sweet  in  the  devil's  bait,  would  so  many 
nibble  at  it  with  full  knowledge  that  a  fatal  hook  is 
lurking  underneath?  if  the  flowers  were  not  fair 
and  the  fruits  were  not  tempting,  would  so  many 
venture  within  the  precincts  where  prowls  the 
murderer  of  souls  ? 

To  some  intoxication  has  its  pleasures.  They 
like  to  forget  their  misery  or  to  feel  their  powers 
enhanced  by  the  false  and  flattering  cup;  or  they 
like  to  look  at  life  with  the  purple  tints  it  wears  as 
seen  through  the  mantling  amethyst.  Such  plea- 
sures has  this  sin,  that  they  will  drink  though  ruin 
stares  them  in  the  face.  They  will  drink  though 
the  clothes  are  rotting  off  their  backs,  and  the  flesh 
is  wasting  from  their  bones.  They  will  drink 
though  decent  friends  are  dropping  off  and  desola- 
tion reigns  in  their  joyless  and  dismantled  dwelling. 
They  will  drink  although  in  their  sober  intervals 
spectres  haunt  their  brain,  and  God's  own  warning, 
"  Drunkards  shall  have  their  portion  in  the  lake 
that  burneth,"  is  fearfully  countersigned  by  the  fire 
already  kindled  in  their  bosom. 


54  THE  MOMENTOUS  CHOICE. 

Others  cannot  resist  the  pleasures  of  sense  and 
the  gratification  of  the  coarsest  appetites.  The 
books  they  read  are  bad ;  the  places  they  frequent 
are  infamous ;  their  very  "  mind  and  conscience 
are  defiled,"  and  "  having  eyes  full  of  adultery  they 
cannot  cease  from  sin."  It  is  a  shame  to  s^eak  of 
the  things  they  do ;  but  surely  they  would  not  do 
them  if  they  did  not  feel  some  fearful  fascination  in 
their  swinish  paradise. 

To  some  a  pleasant  sin  is  gambling.  They  know 
it  to  be  wrong,  they  feel  it  to  be  low,  they  confess 
that  it  is  foolish  ;  but  they  still  go  on.  They  have 
burnt  their  fingers  once  or  twice,  but  still  their 
fingers  itch  for  the  golden  pieces  which  the  tempter 
holds  out  to  them  in  his  red-hot  tongs ;  and  rather 
than  not  bet  or  go  back  to  the  billiard-room  they 
will  risk  the  workhouse  and  the  prison,  the  out- 
law's hue  and  cry,  the  gambler's  blood -besprinkled 
grave. 

No  indeed,  there  is  no  use  to  deny  a  fact  so  clear 
and  manifest.  Sin  has  its  pleasures.  Some  of 
these  pleasures  are  so  great  as  to  act  on  certain 
minds  like  a  spell  or  a  sorcery.  Like  the  little 
bird  within  spring  of  the  rattlesnake,  they  look 
uneasy  at  sight  of  their  enchanting  enemy,  and  flap 
their  wings,  and  flutter  to  and  fro,  and  do  every- 
thing but  the  one  thing  that  would  save  them — 
everything  but  fly  away.     Sin  has  its  pleasures,  and 


THE  MOMENTOUS  CHOICE.  55 

consequently  the  minister  of  Christ  pleads  at  a 
prodigious  disadvantage,  for  he  can  only  appeal  and 
argue  from  without,  whilst  sin  has  already  its  advo- 
cate within. 

Yet,  brethren,  try  to  look  at  it  dispassionately. 
We  admit  that  sin  has  its  pleasures ;  must  you  not 
admit  that  it  has  also  its  pains?  Is  there  not 
sometimes  pain  at  the  moment — a  musk-rat  in  the 
bottle — wormwood  in  the  wine — the  miserable 
mar-all  consciousness  that  you  are  doing  wrong? 
the  consciousness  that  this  Sunday  excursion  is 
clouded  by  God's  frown — the  consciousness  that 
in  these  gains  of  ungodliness  you  are  resisted  by  a 
father's  prayer  ?  And  when  the  pleasure  is  over,  is 
there  not  often  a  pain  in  what  follows  ?  When  the 
crackling  of  the  thorns  has  subsided,  do  you  find 
aught  but  the  ashes — perhaps  too  the  scorpions 
which  the  fire  has  awakened  ?  The  debauch  is  over 
— not  so  the  headache ;  the  night  at  the  casino  is 
over — but  when  will  be  an  end  to  its  consequences? 
the  race- week  is  over,  but  when  will  its  debts  be 
discharged,  and  when  will  you  see  an  end  to  its 
debasing  or  dishonest  entanglements?  And  what 
of  the  lucid  intervals?  When  moments  of  re- 
flection clear  and  sober  come — what  do  you  think 
of  yourself?  You  who  have  been  living  the  beast- 
life,  who  have  thrown  the  rein  on  the  neck  of 
appetite  and  allowed  it  to  run  away  with  the  man 


56  THE  MOMENTOUS  CHOICE. 

and  the  immortal,  what  cau  you  say  for  yourself  ? 
You  who  have  wilfully  put  out  the  eyes  of  your 
understanding  and  doomed  the  mighty  Samson  to 
work  so  gross  and  grovelling — what  say  you  for 
your  moral  suicide  ?  What  say  you  for  having 
slain  and  buried  the  purest  tastes  and  highest 
powers  which  God  had  given  you  ?  And  you  who 
have  been  living  the  demon-life — who  as  the  sceptic 
or  seducer  have  ruined  another's  hope  or  another's 
virtue — who  as  the  gambler  have  expatriated  your- 
self from  the  domain  of  Providence  and  been 
obliged  to  give  up  prayer — what  say  you  for  con- 
verting into  instruments  of  iniquity  those  very 
faculties  which  might  have  been  used  to  serve  God 
and  bless  your  brethren  ? — what  say  you  for  all  the 
ruin  you  have  wrought  and  which  you  never  can 
restore  ? 

Perhaps  this  is  a  lucid  interval.  So  think  now 
what  you  will  think  at  last.  These  pleasures  of  sin 
"  are  but  for  a  season."  Another  world  awaits  you, 
and  oh  how  soon  its  unending  realities  may 
enclasp  you !  It  is  the  prospect  of  that  world 
which  gives  such  importance  and  urgency  to  the 
present.  My  hearer,  you  are  to  exist  for  ever  ! 
Your  Creator  has  given  you  the  priceless  but  awful 
endowment  of  immortality.  Oh  do  not  make  that 
immortality  a  perpetuity  of  woe  ! 


THE  MOMENTOUS  CHOICE.  57 

"  As  on  a  sphere  all  smooth  and  round, 
End  and  beginning  are  not  found  ; 
For  ever,  even  thus  with  thee — 
Unending,  vast  Eternity, 
Eternity  !     Eternity ! 
How  long  art  thou,  Eternity  ! 
0  Man,  full  oft  thy  thoughts  should  dwell 
Upon  the  pains  of  sin  and  hell, 
And  on  the  glories  of  the  pure. 
That  both  beyond  all  time  endure. 
Ponder,  0  Man,  Eternity  ! " 

Of  that  eternity  you  are  soon  to  be  the  inhabitant, 
and  whatever  you  are  when  you  enter  it,  that 
you  must  continue  all  throughout.  And  sin  has 
no  pleasures  there.  The  season  of  enjoyment  is 
past;  the  season  of  remorse  and  punishment  has 
come.  Even  now  you  are  not  without  the  occa- 
sional presentiment — for  although  you  may  bury 
your  sense  of  immortality  you  cannot  extinguish 
it :  you  may  besot  and  stupify  it,  but  it  wakes 
again.  0  that  it  would  cry  so  loud  as  to  scare 
you  from  your  sins  before  you  hear  the  waves  of 
the  eternal  ocean  chiming,  "  He  that  is  filthy,  let 
him  be  filthy  still ;  he  that  is  holy,  let  him  be  holy 
still."  0  that  it  would  rouse  you  who  are  lovers  of 
pleasure  more  than  lovers  of  God,  before  you  hear 
that  strange  and  startling  sentence,  irresistible,  ir- 
revocable, that  inverted  gospel  which  your  own 
impenitence  extorts  from  no  other  lips  than  those 
of  a  long-rejected   Saviour,  "Depart  from  me,  ye 


58  THE  MOMENTOUS  CHOICE. 

cursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  prepared  for  the  devil 
and  his  angels." 

Oh  brethren,  look  away  from  the  things  present, 
have  respect  to  the  recompense  of  reward.  Those 
prudential  prospective  faculties  which  you  use  so 
often  to  secure  a  temporal  good,  use  them  to  insure 
a  holy  and  happy  immortality ;  that  self-denial 
which  you  often  exert,  abjuring  for  days  and  years 
together  ease  and  enjoyment,  in  order  to  win  wealth 
or  fame,  exert  it  here,  and  in  order  to  insure  an 
eternity  of  blessedness  renounce  for  the  season  of 
this  mortal  pilgrimage  the  pleasures  of  sin. 
A  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  suffereth  violence,"  and 
there  is  no  effort  so  vehement  but  it  would  be 
worth  while  to  exert  it  here.  In  order  to  break  off 
from  the  society  of  a  bad  companion,  towards  whom 
he  felt  a  fatal  fascination,  we  have  read  how  Alfieri 
the  Italian  dramatist  got  his  hair  cropped,  so  that 
he  should  be  unfit  to  go  out  of  doors,  and  made  his 
servants  bind  him  in  his  own  arm-chair  till  he  was 
cured  of  his  infatuation.  And  such  are  the  struggles 
of  men  in  earnest.  By  force  like  this  should  you 
take  the  kingdom  of  heaven  rather  than  lose  it 
altogether.  By  force  like  this  should  you  rescue 
from  the  enemies  now  swarming  over  it  that  pearl 
of  great  price,  your  never-dying  soul. 

Yet,  after  all,  it  is  not  force,  for  which  there  is 
occasion  here  so  much  as  faitli.     Moses  opened  his 


THE  MOMENTOUS  CHOICE.  59 

eyes,  and  illusions  fled  away.  He  put  his  hand  in 
the  hand  of  God,  and  forth  from  the  impure  and 
idolatrous  purlieus  of  Memphis  was  led  by  way  of 
INIidian  and  Sinai  and  Pisgah  to  heaven.  By  faith 
he  refused  to  be  called  the  son  of  Pharaoh's  daugh- 
ter ;  but  in  so  doing  he  rose  to  a  higher  rank,  for  at 
once  God  called  him  His  son.  By  faith  he  re- 
nounced a  fortune  purchased  by  sinful  compliances, 
and  instantly  found  that  he  was  richer  than  ever, — 
rich  in  peace  of  conscience  and  in  the  friendship  of 
All- sufficiency.  By  faith  he  forsook  Egypt,  and  in 
that  very  forsaking  found  life  everlasting.  By  faith 
he  surrendered  the  pleasures  of  sin ;  at  the  very 
longest  they  could  have  only  lasted  for  fourscore 
years,  and  must  have  run  very  low  before  the  end 
of  that  "  season  :"  for  three  thousand  years  he  has 
been  enjoying  the  pleasures  which  are  at  God's 
right  hand, — pleasures  which  neither  pall  nor  perish, 
for  they  are  pleasures  evermore. 

So,  dear  brethren,  look  away  from  the  things 
immediately  surrounding,  and  surrender  to  the 
influence  of  those  which  are  not  the  less  urgent 
because  "  invisible."  By  faith  you  know  that  you 
must  die,  although  that  final  hour  of  your  earthly 
history  is  not  seen  as  yet ;  and  when  it  comes  the 
merriest  of  companions  will  be  but  a  sorry  com- 
forter. You  will  want  some  one  who  can  go  into 
God's  presence  with  you  and  so  befriend  you  there 


60  THE  MOMENTOUS  CHOICE. 

as  to  take  off  the  terror  which  must  otherwise 
attend  a  guilty  creature's  interview  with  his  Sove- 
reign and  Judge.  But  by  faith  you  know — if  not, 
learn  it  on  the  instant, — that  there  is  a  Friend  of 
sinners,  God's  beloved  Son,  who  will  with  all  zeal 
and  all  efficacy  perform  that  gracious  office  then,  if 
you  accept  His  friendship  now.  He  is  invisible,  but 
He  is  not  far  away.  He  is  here  present ;  and  how 
it  would  rejoice  His  tender  generous  heart  if  this 
very  moment  you  would  say,  "Lord  Jesus,  Thou  art 
worthy,  and  to  Thee  I  give  myself,  body,  soul,  and 
spirit,  to  be  for  ever  Thine.  Lord  Jesus,  Thou  art 
mighty  :  keep  me  from  sin  and  Satan ;  keep  me  to 
Thy  heavenly  kingdom.  Lord  Jesus,  Thou  art  mer- 
ciful :  wash  away  my  sins  in  Thy  own  most  precious 
blood  ;  take  me  from  the  fearful  pit  and  put  into 
my  mouth  the  new"  song  of  the  pardoned  sinner  : — 

*  A  guilty,  weak,  and  helpless  worm, 
On  Thy  kind  arms  I  fall  ; 
Be  Thou  my  strength  and  righteousness, 
My  Saviour  and  my  All.'" 

On  the  night  after  Hedley  Vicars  read  in  his  Bible, 
"  The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  cleanseth  from  all  sin," 
he  could  hardly  sleep  for  thinking  over  that  most 
wonderful  of  all  truths  which  a  sinner  can  discover. 
But  it  was  enough.  His  mind  was  made  up.  "  If 
this  be  true  for  me,  henceforth,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
I  will  live  as  a  man  should  live  who  has   been 


THE  MOMENTOUS  CHOICE.  61 

washed  in  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ."  He  dis- 
played his  banner.  The  Bible,  lying  open  on  his 
table  at  this  passage  was  thenceforward  to  tell  what 
a  Saviour  he  had  found,  and  under  whose  colours 
he  intended  to  march  the  rest  of  his  journey.  And 
God  gave  him  grace  to  hold  on,  till  in  the  trenches 
of  Sebastopol  the  bullet  pierced  his  heart,  and  the 
good  fight  was  ended.  Oh  my  friends,  young  and 
old,  who  are  not  yet  decided,  may  God  give  you 
grace  to  do  as  that  gallant  soldier  did,  as  did  the 
most  illustrious  of  all  the  Hebrews !  May  He  so 
reveal  to  you  the  surpassing  worth  of  your  never- 
dying  soul,  and  the  peerless  claims  of  the  Son  of 
God  the  Saviour,  that  there  shall  henceforth  be 
no  more  halting  betwixt  two  opinions,  but  that  for 
you  to  live  henceforward  shall  be  Christ — the  sole 
foundation  of  your  hopes,  the  supreme  object  of 
your  affection !  Oh  that  the  Holy  Spirit  would  in 
His  mercy  make  you  wise  and  make  you  willing ! 
Oh  that  He  would  make  this  a  time  much  to  be 
remembered,  and  this  place  to  you  ever  sacred  and 
ever  dear  as  the  valley  of  decision  ! 

No ;  do  not  say,  I  will  attend  to  it  very  soon,  but 
this  is  not  a  convenient  season.  Perhaps  it  is  not 
convenient ;  perhaps  you  have  projects  in  view  or 
engagements  in  hand  which  prevent  you  from  in- 
stantly commencing  a  Christian  career.  If  so,  it 
would  be  better  to  abandon  them  instantly ;  for  if 


62  THE  MOMENTOUS  CHOICE. 

you  wait  till  the  devil  gives  you  leave  to  come  to 
Christ,  you  will  wait  too  long ;  if  you  wait  till  pride 
and  vanity,  till  worldly-mindedness  and  sinful  pas- 
sions, give  their  vote  for  goodness  and  for  God,  you 
will  wait  till  repentance  comes  too  late,  and  wisdom 
costs  too  dear.  But  why  delay  ?  Is  it  anything  so 
dreadful  that  you  are  asked  to  do?  Is  it  such  a 
hardship  to  give  up  husks  for  royal  dainties — the 
prodigal's  rags  for  robes  of  beauty — the  swineherd's 
hovel  for  the  Father's  bosom  ?  You  say  this  season 
is  not  for  you  convenient.  But  is  there  no  other 
whose  convenience  ought  to  be  consulted  ?  Must 
the  teacher  wait  till  it  is  convenient  for  the  pupil  to 
take  his  lesson  ?  Must  the  sovereign  be  kept  wait- 
ing tin  the  criminal  shall  make  up  his  mind  about 
accepting  the  pardon  ?  Must  the  physician  wait  till 
the  patient,  who  has  received  an  envenomed  wound, 
shall  have  leisure  to  take  the  remedies  ?  Must  the 
Saviour  stand  here,  and  follow  you  hence,  and  hover 
round  you,  offering  you  that  pardon  which  He  pur- 
chased with  His  blood  ?  and  is  He  bound  to  wait  tiU 
you  are  disengaged,  or  have  a  fit  of  sickness,  or  some 
scrap  of  useless  time  to  spare  for  Him  ?  And  must 
that  kind  Monitor  and  Persuader,  who  has  so  oft 
dealt  with  you,  and  despite  your  inveterate  earthli- 
ness  almost  persuaded  you,  must  the  Holy  Spirit 
wait  till  you  are  willing  to  be  made  more  willing  ? 
Ah  !  I  know  not  how  it  may  be  with  you,  but  with 


THE  MOMENTOUS  CHOICE.  63 

that  God  whom  you  have  offended,  and  who  now 
offers  to  be  reconciled,  this  is  the  time  convenient. 
With  that  Saviour  who  this  day  holds  ont  His  arms 
of  invitation,  saying  to  you,  0  sinner,  '''  Come  unto 
me,"  this  is  the  time  convenient.  With  that  gracious 
Convincer  who  this  moment  makes  you  anxious  in 
order  to  make  you  happy  for  ever,  to-day,  this  hour, 
is  the  time  convenient.  Oh  then  harden  not  your 
heart !  With  God  this  is  the  day  of  grace — this  is 
the  accepted  time — let  it  be  to  you  also  the  con- 
venient season,  and  then  it  will  be  the  day  of 
salvation ! 


IV. 

^It^  Jather  0f  '^XBtov^. 

The  Book  of  Gknesis— Chap,  i.— l. 

One  of  the  most  delightful  books  which  ancient 
Greece  has  handed  down  to  us  is  the  History  of 
Herodotus.  With  its  old  stories  of  Persia,  Egypt,  and 
Babylon — with  its  romantic  episodes  and  amusing 
anecdotes — with  its  clever  sketches  of  character  and 
its  interesting  details  regarding  countries  which  the 
writer  actually  visited,  all  given  off  with  matchless 
simplicity  and  freshness,  in  a  style  free,  open,  and 
flowing,  it  forms  a  repertory  of  entertainment  and 
instruction  of  which  the  reader  never  wearies,  and 
to  which,  all  its  credulity  and  superstition  notwith- 
standing, we  return  from  time  to  time  with  affec- 
tionate gratitude.  Its  nine  books,  dedicated  to  the 
nine  Muses,  are  said  to  have  been  publicly  read 
over  to  the  Athenians,  who  rewarded  the  recital 
with  a  vote  of  ten  talents  (£2400) ;  and.  Homer 
excepted,  no  Greek  author  has  taken  such  hold  of 
succeeding  generations  as  he  whom,  with  fond  con- 

64 


THE  FATHER  OF  HISTORY.  65 

sent,  they  have  agreed  to  call  "  The  Father  of 
History." 

There  is  no  risk  that  we  shall  pluck  a  leaf  from 
these  ancient  laurels  if  we  remark  that  there  is 
another  more  strictly  entitled  to  the  epithet.  For 
the  true  Father  of  History  we  must  go  back  a  thou- 
sand years  before  the  days  of  Herodotus ;  and  the 
fact  that  it  forms  a  portion  of  the  sacred  canon  is 
no  reason  why  we  should  close  our  eyes  on  the  his- 
toric value  of  the  first  book  of  the  Bible  and  its 
many  incidental  charms. 

We  have  already  so  far  traced  the  history  of  Moses. 
Born  in  the  midst  of  mournful  circiunstances,  but 
miraculously  preserved,  we  have  seen  him  brought 
up  amidst  w^ealth  and  luxury  and  brilliant  expecta- 
tions ;  we  have  seen  him  initiated  in  all  the  wisdom 
of  the  Egyptians,  and  have  no  doubt  that  geometry 
and  the  movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  with 
the  jurisprudence  and  chronology  of  that  wise  and 
ancient  people,  became  familiar  to  his  mind.  But 
although  adorned  with  these  "  Egyptian  jewels,"  we 
have  seen  how  his  heart  continued  leal  to  his  own 
people,  and  how,  disdaining  the  bribes  of  ambition, 
he  quitted  the  tyrant's  palace  a  Hebrew  and  a 
patriot.  We  have  seen  how  the  active  and  athletic 
frame  into  which  his  goodly  childhood  had  grown, 
prophetic  of  a  green  and  energetic  old  age,  was  ani- 
mated by  the  soul  of  a  hero ;  and  in  our  last  lecture 

E 


66  THE  FATHER  OF  HISTORY. 

we  saw  tliat  patriot  and  hero  come  out  the  noblest 
style  of  manhood, — a  saint  renouncing  the  pleasures 
of  sin, — a  believer  casting  himself  on  the  protection 
and  promises  of  God.  We  saw  him  an  exile  and  an 
outlaw,  escaping  to  a  sublime  but  lonely  region,  and 
finding  an  asylum  in  a  good  man's  tent,  where, 
amidst  simple  pursuits,  domestic  affections,  and  the 
society  of  those  by  whom  the  true  God  was  known 
and  worshipped,  Egypt  and  its  enjoyments,  if  not 
Egypt  and  its  captives,  could  easily  be  foTgotten. 

Here  it  was,  we  have  little  doubt,  that  he  wrote 
the  Book  of  Genesis.  How  much  of  its  information 
lingered  in  the  memory  of  the  Israelites,  how  many 
of  its  narratives  and  incidents  had,  with  other  patri- 
archal traditions,  come  down  in  the  family  of  Jethro, 
it  is  idle  to  inquire,  because  impossible  to  ascertain. 
Enough  for  us  to  know  that  it  is  a  portion  of  that 
canon  to  which  the  Saviour  pointed  when  He  said, 
"Search  the  Scriptures,  for  they  are  they  which  testify 
of  me  ;"  and  of  which  St.  Paul  declares,  "  They  are 
all  given  by  inspiration  of  God."  And  we  may  just 
add,  that  with  what  has  recently  come  to  light  of 
Egyptian  theology  and  cosmogony,  it  is  the  last 
book  which  an  Egyj)tian,  or  one  learned  in  no  other 
"  wisdom  "  than  theirs,  could  have  written. 

There  are  two  ways  in  which  the  Book  of  Genesis 
throws  light  on  its  author.  It  helps  to  show  us 
what  manner  of  man  he  was,  and  it  shows  how  far 


THE  FATHER  OF  HISTORY.  67 

lie  was  furnished  for  the  work  God  had  given  him 
to  do. 

True,  the  book  is  inspired,  but  it  is  all  the  more 
expressive  of  its  author  on  this  account.  Believing 
as  we  do  the  plenary  inspiration  of  Scripture,  we 
deprecate  the  theory  which  confounds  a  true  inspira- 
tion with  a  mere  mechanical  instrumentation.  An 
organ  is  an  instrument.  To  the  hand  of  a  mighty 
master  it  yields  effects  which  it  might  never  other- 
wise have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive, 
but  when  that  hand  is  witlidrawn  it  falls  mute  and 
dead.  Before  Milton  or  Handel  touched  it,  it  was 
not  thinking  of  Bethlehem  or  Messiah,  and  now  that 
the  strain  is  ended  there  is  no  longer  any  actual 
sympathy  between  the  engine  and  the  theme  which 
it  discoursed  so  grandly.  But  a  mind,  if  it  be  an 
instrument,  is  also  a  great  deal  more.  With  its 
intelligence  and  will,  with  its  affections  and  feelings, 
when  God  uses  as  His  instrument  the  mind  of  man, 
He  does  homage  to  the  laws  with  which  He  has 
Himself  impressed  it,  and  brings  it  into  unison  with 
His  own ;  and  setting  aside  the  exceptional  cases 
of  Balaam  and  Annas,  we  may  safely  affirm  that 
when  God  condescends  to  give  forth  His  mind 
through  the  minds  of  our  fellow-men,  the  prophecy 
and  tlie  character  of  the  prophet  are  in  keeping. 
Glorious  gospels  are  not  proclaimed  by  fierce  and 
fiery   Hildebrands,   and  great  tribulations  are   not 


68  THE  FATHER  OF  HISTOEY. 

predicted  by  smart  and  dapper  seers,  who  buy  con- 
sols with  the  proceeds  ;  but  just  as  holy  men  speak  as 
they  are  moved  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  we  expect  a  con- 
gruity  throughout.  We  expect  that  the  light-giver 
will  be  himself  enlightened  ;  that  the  utterer  of 
great  thoughts  will  be  himself  a  thinker ;  that  the 
evangelist's  own  feet  will  be  beautifnl  on  the  moun- 
tains ;  that  the  life  of  a  Jeremiah  will  be  itself  a 
lamentation.  In  other  words,  instead  of  setting 
aside  the  penman,  or  using  him  as  a  mere  mouth- 
piece or  machine,  we  expect  to  find  the  prophet  full 
of  his  own  oracle  ;  the  sacred  scribe  his  own  volume 
impersonate  and  alive.  The  men  of  God  we  expect 
to  find  the  truest  types  at  once  of  manhood  and  of 
godliness  ;  God's  men,  but  still  men,  our  fellow-men, 
men  of  like  passions  with  ourselves  ;  and  none  the 
less  because  it  constitutes  a  portion  of  God's  own 
book,  do  we  regard  the  first  volume  of  the  Penta- 
teuch as  one  of  the  books  of  Moses  :  a  book  indi- 
cative of  his  belief  and  his  feelings,  of  his  intelligence, 
of  his  taste,  of  his  habits  of  thought  and  tone  of 
mind. 

Try  to  isolate  this  book.  Imagine  that  it  is  once 
again  what  Genesis  was  once  before,  all  the  Bible  in 
the  world,  then  try  to  form  from  it  a  little  summary 
of  religion,  a  little  system  of  theology,  and  you  will 
be  surprised  to  see  how  clear  and  ample  is  the  light 
which,  let  forth  from  God,  it  sheds  on  man.     Of  God 


THE  FATHER  OF  HISTOEY.  6  9 

it  teaches  at  once  the  spirituality  and  unity,  revealing 
Him  as  the  Supreme  Creator,  the  ever-present,  ever- 
watchful  Governor.  In  the  instantaneous  expulsion 
from  Eden  it  exhibits  the  strictness  of  His  threaten- 
ings,  in  His  dealings  with  Abraham  and  his  descend- 
ants, the  steadfastness  of  His  promises.  In  Enoch, 
with  his  early  assumption  to  congenial  climes,  it 
shows  God's  affection  for  His  children,  and  the  fond 
delight  with  which  He  takes  all  goodness  to  its 
proper  home,  even  as  we  have  the  opposite  abhor- 
rence of  iniquity  in  that  Nemesis  which,  at  the 
moment  of  his  crime,  clutched  the  first  murderer, 
and,  with  fiery  brain  and  branded  brow,  hurried  him 
away  from  all  but  his  own  horrible  companionship. 
That  same  revulsion  from  evil  we  perceive  in  the 
deluge  which  washed  over  a  polluted  world,  and  in 
the  midst  of  their  orgies  swept  down  into  the  abyss 
the  revellers  obscene  ;  and  the  same  lesson  we  read 
again  in  the  flames  which,  like  a  blot  from  the  land- 
scape, burned  out  Sodom.  Yet  God's  mercy  and 
patience  and  long-suffering,  how  soft  and  full  they 
shine  in  the  120  years'  reprieve  granted  to  the 
guilty  antediluvians,  in  those  constant  concessions 
to  the  cities  of  the  plain,  which  only  ceased  w^hen 
Abraham  was  ashamed  to  ask.  And,  so  to  put  it, 
which  of  us  could  desire  a  God  more  gracious,  more 
kind  and  condescending,  than  He  who  talked  with 
Adam  in  the  bowers  of  Paradise,  and  with  whom 


70  THE  FATHER  OF  HISTORY. 

Enoch  walked  in  the  solitude  of  the  surrounding 
wickedness  ?  Which  of  us  could  desire  a  pavilion 
more  secure  or  a  portion  more  divine  than  opened 
to  Abraham  in  the  words,  "  Fear  not,  Abram,  for  I  am 
thy  shield,  and  thy  exceeding  great  reward  "?  Who 
could  desire  a  protector  more  assiduous  and  more 
provident  than  the  Guardian  who  stood  by  Joseph 
in  the  dungeon  as  truly  as  on  the  steps  of  Pharaoh's 
throne  ;  or  who  could  seek  a  trustee  and  adminis- 
trator more  faithful  and  powerful  than  that  great 
Covenant-keeper  who  gathered  to  their  fatliers,  took 
to  the  abode  of  their  godly  ancestors,  each  successive 
patriarch,  and  at  the  same  time  watched  so  carefully 
the  fortunes  of  their  surviving  and  often  sinful 
descendants  ? 

Then  for  Man.  In  this  little  book  we  have  man's 
original  rectitude  and  innocence  ;  we  have  the  ac- 
count of  his  early  fall,  with  its  forfeiture  of  God's 
friendship  ;  and,  both  in  the  old-world  fathers  and 
in  the  races  which  radiated  from  around  Mount 
Ararat,  we  have,  in  countless  developments,  the  evil 
and  worse- ward  tendencies  of  unaided  unsanctified 
human  nature. 

But  at  the  same  time  we  have  in  this  little 
volume  the  two  sublimest  and  most  sustaining 
truths  which  bear /upon  the  history  of  our  species  ; 
the  one  distinctly  announced,  the  other  more  dimly 
foreshadowed.     What  is   man,  and  whence  comes 


THE  FATHER  OF  HISTORY.  71 

he  ?  is  a  question  wliicli  tlie  wisest  of  antiquity  have 
asked,  and  which  was  often  most  absurdly  answered. 
Prometheus  made  a  statue,  then  lighted  a  torch  at 
the  chariot  of  the  sun,  and  man,  the  fire-kindler, 
became  king  of  the  other  creatures.  Cadmus  killed 
a  dracjon,  and  sowed  in  the  OTound  its  teeth,  and 
they  sprang  up  a  crop  of  warriors  ready  armed. 
Deucalion  and  his  wife  found  themselves  in  a 
drowned  and  desolate  world,  beginning  to  dry  up  ; 
and,  directed  by  an  oracle,  they  flung  stones  back- 
ward over  their  shoulder,  and  shortly  afterwards 
from  the  soft  warm  mud  sprang  forth  the  various 
nations  of  mankind.  But,  taught  by  the  Almighty 
Maker  himself,  Moses  tells  how  from  earthly  ele- 
ments God  formed  man's  body,  and  how,  from  God 
himself,  and  His  inbreathing,  came  man's  soul. 
"The  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the 
ground,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of 
life,  and  man  became  a  living  soul."  But  what 
about  that  soul  ?  What  other  soul  or  spirit  did  it 
most  resemble  ?  The  soul  of  the  surrounding  crea- 
tures, or  that  of  some  pre-existing  race  of  spirits 
elsewhere?  AVonder,  0  heavens  !  and,  0  man,  be 
astonished  at  thy  own  prerogative  !  "  God  created 
man  in  his  own  image  ;  in  the  image  of  God 
created  He  him."  By  faith  we  understand  that 
the  worlds  were  framed  by  the  word  of  God ;  and 
by  faith  we  understand  that  a  house  eternal  awaits 


72  THE  FATHER  OF  HISTORY. 

elsewhere  the  renewed  and  ransomed  spirit :  but 
surely  it  needs  the  same  faith  to  credit  this  astound- 
ing declaration.  To  look  round  on  man  as  he  actually 
is,  to  look  round  on  him  as  he  met  the  eyes  of 
Moses — brutalized,  besotted,  scant  of  intellect, — and 
through  the  disfiguring  filth  and  wretchedness  espy 
the  immortal,  the  run-away  child  of  the  Eternal,  it 
needs  great  faith ;  but  he  who,  with  Moses,  knows 
that  it  is  true,  needs  no  poet  to  proclaim  the  dignity 
of  human  nature,  and  he  need  not  stagger  at  aught 
which  God  deems  fit  to  do  for  the  recovery  of  a 
nature  originally  so  exalted,  and  for  the  reinstate- 
ment of  children  once  so  dear,  and  still  so  tenderly 
desired. 

"  God  made  man  after  His  own  image"  Behold 
the  fact  surpassing  fable !  Behold  the  faithful 
saying  which  should  make  each  man  a  terror  and  a 
glory,  a  grief  and  a  rejoicing  to  himself !  Is  it  so  ? 
Is  this  understanding  of  mine  an  image  of  God's 
intelligence  ? — this  imagination  of  mine  an  image  of 
God's  immensity? — this  immortality  of  mine  an 
image  of  God's  eternity  ?  This  soul  which  I  have 
got,  was  it  made  on  purpose  to  love  the  holy  as  God 
loves  it  ? — to  shed  affection  and  blessing  and  good- 
will as  these  pour  with  sun-like  constancy  from 
God's  own  beneficence  ? — was  it  made  to  commune 
with  the  Most  High  in  lowly  confidence  and  ever- 
nearing  intimacy  ?     Then  what  a  work  there  is  for 


THE  FATHER  OF  HISTORY.  73 

thee,  0  Spirit  of  all  grace,  to  bring  this  nature,  so 
debauched,  debased,  to  bring  it  back  to  its  first 
estate  !  and  to  recover  tastes  pure  and  holy,  aspira- 
tions high  and  heavenly,  what  a  work  is  there  for 
myself !  "  God  made  man  after  His  own  image." 
That  one  sentence  at  the  opening  of  the  Bible 
accounts  for  all  that  follows.  It  shows  how  im- 
portant is  the  race  which  was  about  to  become  the 
subject  of  a  great  experiment,  and  the  man  who 
believes  this  sentence — a  sentence  which  to  mental 
science  gives  new  grandeur,  and  to  man  himself  an 
awful  and  august  significance — has  no  right  to 
stagger  at  any  interposition  which  Divine  goodness 
might  prompt  or  Divine  wisdom  devise  on  behalf  of 
a  race  so  illustrious  in  its  origin  and  so  vast  in  its 
capabilities,  if  withal  so  woful  in  its  self-entailed 
ruin.  "  Great  is  the  mystery  of  godliness, — God 
manifest  in  flesh."  But  if  it  does  not  diminish  the 
mystery,  it  gives  the  antecedent  possibility  when 
we  read  regarding  the  race  thus  distinguished, 
"  God  made  man  after  His  own  image." 

Alongside  of  man's  exalted  origin  thus  clearly 
revealed,  Moses  knew  the  good  which  God  had  in 
store  for  him,  although  in  more  obscure  presenti- 
ment. In  this  same  Genesis  is  preserved  that  germ 
of  all  subsequent  gospels, — the  promise  spoken  in 
Paradise,  and  which  assured  the  disconsolate 
Mother  of  Mankind  that  her  offspring  should  crush 


74  THE  FATHER  OF  HISTORY. 

the  head  of  the  Deceiver.  Here  is  also  preserved 
that  great  promise  to  the  Father  of  the  selected 
Family  :  "  In  thee  shall  all  families  of  the  earth  be 
blessed."  And  here  too  is  recorded  dying  Israel's 
prediction  :  "  The  sceptre  shall  not  depart  from 
Judah,  nor  a  law-giver  from  between  his  feet,  until 
Shiloh  (the  Prince  of  Peace  or  Eest -giver  ■^)  come, 
and  to  Him  the  people  shall  adhere," — the  nations 
shall  gather.  And  whatever  might  be  the  specific 
form  which  the  promise  assumed  to  Moses'  wistful 
and  forth-going  fancy,  as  he  looked  on  the  sin  and 
the  misery — as  he  recalled  the  groans  of  the  brick- 
bakers  in  Egypt  and  the  blows  of  their  taskmasters 
— as  he  saw  on  every  side  the  trail  of  the  serpent 
and  the  work  of  the  destroyer, — he  exulted  in  the 
hope  of  a  great  deliverer,  who,  breaking  Israel's  yoke 
and  giving  rest  to  the  nations,  should  bruise  the 
head  of  the  serpent  and  to  all  families  of  the  earth 
be  a  blessino-. 

Compiled  from  the  Book  of  Genesis,  such  we 
believe  to  have  been  in  substance  the  creed  of 
Moses.  It  was  a  possession  unspeakably  more 
precious  than  all  the  wisdom  he  acquired  in  Egypt, 
and  in  conjunction  with  his  patriotism,  his  gallantry, 
and  his  expansion  of  mind,  it  wonderfully  fitted 
him  for  the  work  God  designed  him  to  do.  Even 
before  that  special  manifestation   at   the    burning 

1  Hengstenberg's  Christology,  i.  46. 


THE  FATHER  OF  HISTORY.  75 

biisli,  the  Most  Hisjh  was  to  him  no  unknown  God, 
and  entering  on  the  tremendous  undertaking  to 
which  he  was  called  as  Israel's  Liberator  and  Law- 
giver, it  was  of  infinite  value  to  have  his  spirit 
sustained  by  considerations  so  exalted  and  motives 
so  sublime  as  those  which  must  have  been  familiar  to 
the  mind  pervaded  by  the  sayings  of  that  one  book. 
Of  the  contents  of  this  most  comprehensive  book 
it  is  hardly  possible  in  a  few  flying  sentences  to 
present  an  epitome.  Commencing  with  the  com- 
mencement of  our  human  history;  nay,  we  may 
say  commencing  with  the  commencement  of  the 
universe — for  it  tells  that  the  universe  is  not  eter- 
nal: it  had  a  beginning  and  God  is  its  Creator — 
commencing  with  the  dawn  of  human  history,  it 
exhibits  man  at  home  in  his  own  world,  with  the 
production  of  six  creative  days  all  ready  around 
him,  the  plants  and  animals  so  various,  so  beautiful, 
and  so  fitted  for  man's  use.  There  is  rest  and  there 
is  worship — for  it  is  the  Sabbath — the  first  in  a 
long  series.  Then  come  work,  observation,  intel- 
ligence, culture,  the  muster  of  the  animals  named 
by  an  acute  and  friendly  naturalist,  that  tilling  and 
dressing  of  the  ground  in  which  man  exercises  his 
delegated  faculty  as  a  subordinate  creator  and  im- 
prover, making  that  which  is  already  "good"  still 
better ;  that  social  converse  which  is  the  still  more 
important  culture   of  himself.      Then   follows   the 


76  THE  FATHER  OF  HISTOEY. 

first  sin, — the  first  shame, — the  first  flight  from 
God's  presence.  Then  comes  the  first  death, — a 
very  dismal  one, — the  death  of  one  who  had  brought 
back  to  earth  much  of  the  lost  innocence  and  piety ; 
a  death  amidst  blows  and  bloodshed;  a  death  by 
that  dear  hand  which  in  tottering  infancy  the 
younger  brother  had  often  clasped  as  much  for  love 
as  guidance ;  a  death  which  leaves  the  afflicted 
parents  doubly  desolate,  for  their  one  son  is  in  a 
martyr's  early  grave,  and  their  other  son  is  the 
murderer.  Sin  worketh  death ;  and  we  have  the 
development  in  that  old  world's  depravity,  till  the 
Flood  comes  and  clears  it  all  away.  The  Ark  is 
aground  on  Ararat,  and  for  a  moment  there  is 
devotion,  there  is  gratitude.  But  Noah's  altar  has 
scarcely  ceased  to  smoke,  above  the  dripping  crags 
and  from  the  sundering  clouds  the  rainbow  flag  has 
scarcely  disappeared,  when  on  the  soil  of  the  re- 
scued family  sin  is  sprouting  faster  than  blades  of 
grass  are  springing  from  the  surface  of  the  soft  and 
reeking  earth.  And  by  and  bye  we  see  the  Tower  of 
Babel  rising,  with  its  proud  effort  to  lift  the  name 
of  Mmrod  to  the  stars,  and  form  a  capital  for  all 
mankind.  But  lo  !  by  a  strange  confusion  in  their 
speech,  we  see  the  centripetal  attraction  suddenly 
exchanged  for  a  centrifugal  repulsion,  and  from 
around  the  stunted,  unfinished  tower  the  vexed  and 
alienated  clans  are  pressing  outward,  each  along  his 


THE  FATHER  OF  HISTORY.  77 

separate  radius, — to  meet  no  more  till  one  great 
speech  shall  reunite  the  fragments  of  the  exploded 
family.  Having  sent  forth  on  their  several  ways 
the  races  still  so  interesting :  those  sons  of  Ham, 
on  whom  a  father's  fault  has  long  pressed  heavily ; 
those  phlegmatic  sons  of  Shem,  with  whom  India 
and  China  still  are  teeming ;  and  those  others  with 
the  flowing  beard  and  flashing  eye,  in  whom  we 
still  recognise  the  Arab  and  the  Jew ;  and  last  of 
all,  those  sons  of  Japheth,  by  whom  the  isles  of  the 
Gentiles  should  be  peopled — pilgrims  of  the  square 
forehead,  the  sturdy  step,  and  iron  sinew, — having 
for  the  present  sent  away  to  harden  amidst  their 
northern  mists  and  snows  these  future  tutors  and 
rulers  of  mankind,  till  such  season  as  they  should 
reappear  and  take  up  their  residence  in  the  tents  of 
Shem, — the  record  narrows  in,  and  leaving  the 
history  of  the  world,  the  sacred  penman  restricts 
himself  to  the  fortunes  of  the  peculiar  people.  And 
throughout  those  nine-and-thirty  chapters  which  it 
fills,  that  history  is  rather  a  succession  of  family 
records  than  the  annals  of  a  nation.  Patriarch 
follows  patriarch,  and  many  an  incidental  personage 
flits  across  the  scene.  But  even  at  the  last  the  clan 
only  musters  threescore  souls  and  ten,  and  it  is  only 
in  the  four  centuries  which  lie  betwixt  Genesis  and 
Exodus  that  the  Abrahamic  clan  has  grown  into  the 
great  and  numerous  Hebrew  nation. 


78  THE  FATHER  OF  HISTORY. 

To  no  liistorian  was  it  ever  permitted  to  recite 
events  so  stupendous  as  rise  one  after  another  in 
the  opening  chapters  of  Genesis,  nor  incidents  more 
striking  and  touching  or  more  fraught  with  special 
Providence  than  those  which  fill  the  remainder. 
And  although  we  do  not  forget  the  protest  of  Hein- 
rich  Heine  against  Longinus  and  the  critics  who 
have  attempted  to  point  out  the  beauties  of  the 
Bible  :  "  Vain  words,  your  talk  of  its  sublimity,  its 
simplicity  :  vain  tests  of  human  judgment.  It  is 
God's  production, — like  a  tree,  like  a  flower,  like  the 
ocean,  like  Man  himself, — it  is  the  Word  of  God ; 
that,  and  no  more,"^ — yet,  as  we  have  said,  there  is 
a  human  underside,  and  we  cannot  help  forming 
our  own  inference  as  to  an  author's  dispositions 
from  the  way  he  performs  his  work,  from  the 
incidents  he  selects,  from  the  scenes  on  which 
he  dwells,  from  the  conclusions  which  he  forces 
his  readers  to  deduce.  Tried  by  that  standard 
no  author  can  be  greater  or  more  good.  What 
tenderness  flows  forth  in  that  tale  of  peerless  pathos, 
Joseph  and  his  brethren  ;  what  sympathy  with  the 
high-souled,  pelf-spurning  Abraham  in  his  restora- 
tion of  the  spoil  and  in  his  purchase  of  Machpelah  ; 
what  a  love  of  rural  quiet  and  pastoral  simplicity 
in  the  fond  minuteness  with  which  he  paints 
Abraham's   interviews   at   Mamre,  Eleazar's   confi- 

1  Edinburgh  Review,  vol.  civ,  208. 


THE  FATHER  OF  HISTORY.  79 

dential  embassy,  Jacob's  flight  and  adventures  at 
Bethel,  at  Padan-aram,  at  the  brook  Jabbok ;  what 
clear- eyed  faith,  what  devout  recognition  of  the 
Most  High  everywhere  !  And  although  the  gran- 
deur of  the  themes  be  itself  explanation  sufficient, 
has  it  not  in  some  measure  been  owing  to  the 
Divine  artlessness  and  power  of  the  narrative  that 
Genesis  has  gathered  towards  itself  so  much  of  the 
genius  of  Christendom  ?  And  after  gazing  on  the 
'  Deluge'  of  Turner  or  listening  to  the  '  Creation'  of 
Haydn,  after  reading  Yondel's  Lucifer,  or  Milton's 
Paradise  Lost,  The  Death  of  Ahel  by  Gesner,  The 
World  hefore  the  Flood  by  Montgomery,  how  is  it 
that  it  all  feels  so  familiar  and  so  fundamentally  true, 
unless  it  be  that  the  original  has  been  sketched  in 
outlines  so  firm,  with  tints  so  transparent  and 
details  so  suggestive,  that  the  world  could  not  bear 
the  books  which  might  be  written,  by  expanding  the 
great  facts  embodied  in  this  Book  of  the  Beginning  ? 
For  Moses  we  claim  that  he  is  the  true  Father  of 
History ;  and  what  a  delightful  study  would  be  the 
annals  of  our  species,  if  always  written  in  his  spirit, 
so  devout  and  candid  and  God-recognising  !  Even 
as  it  is,  pens  the  most  flippant  have  unconsciously 
recorded  the  fulfilment  of  prophecy,  and  the  most 
hostile  witnesses  have  been  betrayed  into  involun- 
tary recognitions  of  God's  ever-working  and  aU- 
commanding  Providence ;    whilst  in  the  pages  of 


80  THE  FATHER  OF  HISTORY. 

Sismondi  and  Guizot,  of  Merle  and  N'eander,  of  the 
old  Thiianiis  and  the  recent  Miiller,  the  devout 
student  joyfully  recognises  the  outstretched  arm  of 
that  great  Governor  among  the  nations,  who  is  wise 
in  counsel  and  excellent  in  working. 

Of  good  history  there  is  already  more  than  any 
one  here  present  is  ever  likely  to  overtake  ;  but  it 
is  a  literature  of  that  kind  for  which  there  will  be 
scope  and  fitness  in  the  leisure  of  a  coming  world. 
Amongst  the  spirits  made  perfect  will  there  not  be 
some  wdio  shall  still  look  back  with  wistful  interest 
to  that  strange  and  intricate  scene  in  which  they 
once  were  actors,  and  who,  with  the  fuller  lights 
supplied  by  the  archives .  of  the  Upper  Sanctuary, 
will  love  to  trace  again  Earth's  finished  story  ? 
Even  now  the  subject  is  full  of  interest,  and, 
amidst  all  its  appeals  to  our  human  sympathies,  he 
is  blind  indeed  who  is  not  startled  ever  and  anon 
by  the  sundering  of  the  cloud,  and  the  coming  forth 
of  a  resistless  and  ever-watchful  Sovereignty. 

Still,  interesting  as  is  the  past,  I  must  confess  our 
personal  concern  lies  mainly  with  the  present  and 
the  future.  In  reading  these  bygone  records  our 
indignation  is  often  roused  by  instances  of  gTeat 
wickedness  or  stupendous  folly,  and  we  cannot  help 
feeling  chagrined  and  mortified  when  we  see  splendid 
opportunities  vilely  thrown  away.  But  each  of  us 
is  at  this  moment  making  history ;  each  of  us  has 


THE  FATHER  OF  HISTORY.  81 

the  option  of  securing  an  everlasting  abode  in  those 
regions  to  which  Moses  and  all  the  best  and  wisest 
of  past  ages  are  already  gone.  Surely  we  don't 
mean  to  squander  our  accepted  time  and  throw  away 
this  opportunity,  and  so  furnish  angel  witnesses 
with  a  new  occasion  for  astonishment,  and  ourselves 
with  the  materials  of  unending  and  unavailing  re- 
gret. Indeed,  my  dear  friends,  if  your  taste  be  in 
unison  with  this  evening's  theme,  let  me  make  that 
very  circumstance  a  motive  and  an  argument  for 
sparing  no  diligence  so  as  to  make  salvation  sure. 
In  giving  you  the  thirst  for  knowledge,  God  has 
taken  you  out  of  the  common  herd.  Won't  you 
suffer  Him  to  take  you  into  a  company  still  more 
select  and  favoured,  by  awaking  within  you  the 
"  hunger  after  righteousness"  ?  If  the  two  co-exist, 
ample  satisfactions  are  in  store  for  you ;  but  it  will 
be  very  sad  to  carry  hence  an  eager,  expansive  intel- 
lect, but  in  virtue  of  a  heart  godless,  sensual,  and 
unsanctified,  to  find  yourself  in  that  outer  darkness 
where  a  superior  understanding  will  only  prove  a 
sorer  privation  and  a  severer  punishment.  There 
are  some  historic  facts  to  which  you  have  not  suffi- 
ciently adverted,  and  they  differ  from  many  which 
you  read  in  your  favourite  authors,  in  as  far  as  you 
are  personally  implicated,  and  are  yet  to  come  in 
contact  with  the  Great  Agent  in  them.  The  Incar- 
nation of  the  Son  of  God,  His  death  at  Jerusalem, 

F 


82  THE  FATHER  OF  HISTORY. 

and  the  commission  with  wliich  He  intrusted  dis- 
ciples before  ascending  into  heaven, — these  events 
are  not  only  amongst  the  best -authenticated  inci- 
dents in  our  earthly  annals,  but  to  every  man  who 
knows  them  they  are  full  of  anxious  import.  0  be 
entreated  to  advert  to  them,  and  dwell  upon  them, 
till  they  become  the  hinges  of  your  happier  history  ; 
dwell  upon  them  till,  with  its  simple  key,  the 
gospel  opens  for  you  a  door  in  your  vale  of  trouble, 
and  lets  you  out  into  a  golden  future ;  dwell  upon 
them  till,  not  in  knowledge  onty,  but  in  righteous- 
ness and  true  holiness,  your  mind  is  renewed  after 
the  image  of  the  second  Adam ;  dwell  upon  them 
till  Christ's  resurrection  has  bridged  a  path  over 
your  own  grave,  and  His  ascension  and  intercession 
have  taught  your  thoughts  to  mount  toward  heaven. 


V. 


^hc  Call. 

"  Now  Moses  kejit  tlie  flock  of  Jetliro  his  father-in-law,  the  priest  of 
Midian  :  and  he  led  the  flock  to  the  back-side  of  the  desert,  and 
came  to  the  mountain  of  God,  even  to  Horeb.  And  the  Angel  of 
the  Lord  appeared  unto  him,"  etc. — Ex.  iii.  1,  2. 

The  fortiines  of  the  little  Hebrew  foundlincr  we 
have  so  far  traced.  By  a  remarkable  Providence 
we  have  seen  the  child  of  slavery  transferred  from 
the  hovel  to  the  palace,  or  rather  from  the  jaws  of 
the  crocodile  to  the  arms  of  a  princess.  AYe  have 
seen  him  growing  up  a  scholar,  an  inquiring  spirit, 
intellectual  and  wxll  informed, — a  master  of  such 
wisdom  as  Eg}^t  could  supply ;  we  have  seen  him 
coming  out  a  hero  and  a  patriot,  even  in  the  court 
of  Pharaoh  unable  to  forget  that  he  was  a  Hebrew 
of  the  Hebrews  ;  and  at  last,  from  devotion  to  his 
own  down-trampled  brethren,  casting  away  all  pro- 
spects of  earthly  promotion,  and  jeopardizing  his 
life  in  the  quarrel  of  his  country.  We  have  seen 
him  the  fugitive  and  the  exile,  and  last  Lecture  we 
devoted  to  what  is  believed  to  have  been  one  of  the 
employments  of  his  seclusion,  and,  without  forgetting 

S3 


84  THE  CALL. 

the  Divine  original  of  Genesis,  we  considered  his 
claims  and  characteristics  as  the  Father  of  History. 

Quiet  and  happy  lives  make  poor  materials  for 
biography.  The  tourist  who  journeys  from  Eotter- 
dam  up  the  Ehine  seldom  looks  at  the  river,  for 
whatsoever  may  be  the  wealth  afloat  on  its  bosom, 
whatsoever  the  fertility  conveyed  by  its  waters,  there 
is  nothing  striking  or  arresting  in  its  current ;  and 
it  is  only  when  vexed  into  rapids  at  the  Lurlei,  or 
when  it  comes  in  a  thundering  cataract  down  at 
Schaffhausen,  that  eyes  which  watched  the  clouds 
or  ranged  along  the  banks  are  recalfed  to  the  for- 
gotten stream.  So  of  the  three  stages  of  his  history 
Moses  would  probably  have  named  as  the  happiest 
his  forty  years  in  the  land  of  Midian.  They  were 
very  obscure  and  inconspicuous.  It  was  a  great 
change  from  the  court-end  of  Memphis,  the  fashion- 
able quarter  of  Egypt's  metropoHs,  to  the  back  of 
the  desert ;  it  was  a  great  change  from  a  palace  to 
the  scanty  accommodation  of  a  tent,  and  from  com- 
manding an  army  it  was  a  greater  change  to  herding 
sheep.  But  "  the  mind  is  its  own  place,"  and  the 
greatest  minds  are  the  least  dependent  on  outward 
accommodations.  The  pleasures  of  Egypt  were  far 
from  unalloyed.  They  were  too  mainly  the  joys  of 
sense,  and  were  so  mixed  up  with  idolatrous  observ- 
ances as  to  pollute  and  poison  them  all,  and  make 
them  no  better  than  "  pleasures  of  sin."     But  with 


THE  CALL.  85 

the  meditative  leisure  he  eD joyed  amongst  the  lonely 
mountains,  with  the  piety  which  he  found  in  the 
homestead  of  the  priest  of  Midian,  and  with  the 
domestic  affection  to  which  he  returned  when  in 
the  cool  of  the  day  he  brought  back  his  flock  to  the 
canvas  village,  and  Zi23porah  and  his  boy  came  forth 
to  meet  him,  he  was  thankful  for  his  peaceful  seclu- 
sion, and  felt  what  another  was  afterwards  to  sing, 
"  The  Lord  is  my  shepherd ;  He  maketh  me  to  lie 
down  in  green  pastures  ;  He  leadeth  me  in  the 
paths  of  righteousness." 

There  had  once  been  a  period  when  Moses  had 
hoped  to  deliver  Israel.  How  this  hope  had  arisen 
— whether,  as  Josephus  says  {Ant.  ii.  9.  3),  a  Divine 
premonition  of  his  father  had  been  communicated 
by  Amram  to  his  son,  or  whether  his  exalted  posi- 
tion had  wdiispered  the  hope  to  his  patriotism, — 
sure  enough  not  only  had  Moses  been  led  to 
cherish  the  noble  purpose,  but  (as  Stephen  relates) 
"  he  supposed  his  brethren  would  have  understood 
how  that  God  by  his  hand  would  deliver  them."  ^ 
That  hope  had  been  thwarted.  It  had  been 
thwarted  in  circumstances  as  mortifying  to  self-love 
as  they  w^ere  calculated  to  quench  his  patriotism. 
"  Who  made  thee  a  prince  and  a  judge  over  us  ?" 
and  after  forsaking  the  court  and  casting  himself  on 
his  own   countrymen,  they  plainly  told  him  that 

1  Acts  vii.  25. 


86  THE  CALL. 

tliey  did  not  want  his  services.  Proscribed  by  the 
king  and  repudiated  by  his  own  brethren,  nothing 
remained  to  him  except  to  flee.  And  it  would 
seem  as  if,  in  the  asylum  which  he  found,  his 
ambitious  projects  had  died  away.  Probably  news 
did  not  travel  very  fast  from  Memphis  to  Midian, 
and  in  the  mood  of  both  Egyptians  and  Israelites 
it  was  prudent  not  to  apprise  any  of  his  hiding- 
place.  But  all  unconsciously  the  preparation  was 
advancing  in  the  school  of  God's  selecting ;  and  of 
that  preparation  not  the  least  was  the  meekening 
process  in  the  mind  of  God's  destined  agent  and 
envoy. 

John  Knox  was  forty -two  before  he  began  to 
preach.  To  himself  it  was  a  great  surprise  when 
he  was  summoned  to  the  work.  Already  in  writing 
and  in  conversational  discussion  he  had  served  the 
cause  of  truth ;  but  when  an  unexpected  appeal 
was  made  to  him  and  a  solemn  charge  laid  upon 
him,  "  the  said  John,  abashed,  burst  forth  in  most 
abundant  tears,  and  withdrew  himself  to  his 
chamber.  His  countenance  and  behaviour  from 
that  day  till  the  day  that  he  was  compelled  to 
present  himself  to  the  public  place  of  preaching, 
did  sufficiently  declare  the  grief  and  trouble  of  his 
heart ;  for  no  man  saw  any  sign  of  mirth  of  him, 
neither  yet  had  he  pleasure  to  accompany  any  man, 
many  days  together."     Yet  it  was  no  faltering  in  the 


THE  CALL.  87 

faith,  nor  was  it  any  fear  for  himself  that  made  him 
hesitate  ;  for  when  the  next  Sunday  came  and  with 
it  the  first  sermon,  the  hearers  exclaimed,  ^'  Others 
sned  the  branches  of  the  Papistry,  bnt  he  strikes  at 
the  root,"  and  others  more  ominously  hinted,  "  George 
Wishart  spake  never  so  plainly,  and  yet  he  was 
burnt  :  even  so  will  he  be."  -^ 

In  early  life  spirits  are  high  and  hope  is  sanguine, 
and  therefore  it  is  fortunate  that  in  early  life  most 
persons  get  committed  to  their  career.  But  Moses 
was  about  to  commence  an  undertaking  for  which 
the  self-reliance  of  a  sanguine  temperament  would 
have  been  wholly  insufficient.  Had  he  been  en- 
couraged in  his  first  attempt,  had  he  found  his 
compatriots  ready  to  revolt  when  he  was  prepared 
to  be  their  leader,  we  can  imagine  a  successful 
insurrection.  The  Israelites  were  very  numerous, 
and  a  sudden  servile  rising  of  half  a  million,  most 
of  them  concentred  in  one  region,  might  have 
found  the  effeminate  Egyptians  off  their  guard,  and 
before  they  could  rally  an  exodus  might  have  been 
effected,  and  by  a  sudden  dash  across  the  shorter 
desert  a  portion  of  southern  Canaan  might  easily 
have  been  wrenched  from  the  unprepared  inhabi- 
tants ;  and  so  in  a  few  days  and  by  a  succession  of 
brilliant  strokes  the  bondage  of  centuries  might 
have  ended  in  a  speedy  and  triumphant  return  to 

1  Knox's  Work^  bv  Lain.?,  i.  188,  192. 


88  THE  CALL. 

Palestine.  In  that  event,  however,  the  training  and 
purifying  processes  of  the  long  wilderness  would 
have  all  been  superseded,  and  instead  of  entering 
the  Land  of  Promise  a  peculiar  people,  God-guided 
and  God-governed,  they  would  have  tumultuated 
into  their  new  abode  a  mob  of  self- emancipated 
slaves  and  self-gratulating  victors,  with  the  vices  of 
Egypt  still  uncured,  and  utterly  unfitted  to  subserve 
Jehovah's  special  purpose. 

In  accordance,  therefore,  with  the  determinate 
counsel  and  foreknowledge  of  God,  although  much 
to  the  mortification  of  the  moment,  when  in  the 
flush  of  youthful  enthusiasm — for  at  forty  he  w^as 
young — Moses  offered  his  services,  they  w^ere 
ungraciously  declined,  and  the  disapj)ointed  patriot 
seems  to  have  abandoned  all  hope  of  being  Israel's 
deliverer.  But  from  the  instant  that  he  despaired 
of  himseK  he  began  to  grow  fit  for  God's  purpose. 
He  whose  way  it  has  ever  been  to  thrust  dow^n  the 
mighty  from  their  seats  could  now  answer  the 
question,  "  By  whom  shall  Israel  arise  ?"  for  Moses 
had  grown  humble  and  meek.  In  the  long  and 
sequestered  years  he  had  learned  to  know  his  own 
deficiencies,  and  in  any  work  to  which  God  might 
call  him  he  w^as  prepared  to  merge  himself  in  the 
will  of  the  Most  High.  Instead  of  rushing  on  the 
work  in  vain-glorious  confidence,  he  would  now 
feel  that  it  was  one  which  God  alone  could  accom- 


THE  CALL.  89 

plisli.  Instead  of  starting  up  the  self- constituted 
agitator  and  orator,  lie  was  now  prepared  to  go 
before  Pharaoh  in  calm  superhuman  solemnity  as 
Jehovah's  messenger.  And  instead  of  maturing  his 
own  plans  and  devising  his  own  expedients,  and 
giving  forth  his  own  orders,  he  was  in  that  state 
of  mind  which  no  longer  caters  for  applause,  but, 
prefacing  its  oracles  with  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord," 
ascribes  of  all  prosperous  achievement  the  glory  to 
Him  from  whom  all  glories  are. 

When  a  youth  leaves  school  or  ends  his  course  at 
college  he  is  apt  to  feel  a  certain  complacency.  He 
knows  three  or  four  languages,  and  astronomy,  and 
geography,  and,  in  short,  more  or  less  of  all  things 
knowable.  So  learned  is  he  that  he  would  not 
like  to  be  thought  ignorant  of  anything,  and  would 
almost  blush  to  be  asked  a  question  which  he  could 
not  answer.  But  wait  for  twenty  years ;  and 
although  at  the  end  of  that  time  he  has  immeasur- 
ably extended  his  attainments,  and  is  now  so  far  a 
master  or  monopolist  in  some  department  as  to 
receive  homage  from  adepts  and  pilgrimages  from 
strangers, — with  himself  far  more  profound  than  the 
sense  of  proficiency  is  the  sense  of  imperfection,  and 
whilst  he  sighs  over  vast  departments  on  which  he 
can  never  hope  to  enter,  there  is  no  phrase  he  uses 
oftener  than  the  one  formerly  so  much  evaded,  "  I 
don't  know."     AVhen  a  man  begins  a  religious  life, 


90  THE  CALL. 

there  is  apt  to  be  a  self-complacent  stage  in  his 
incipient  piety.  His  conduct  is  correct.  Compared 
with  some  older  Christians,  there  is  more  fervour 
in  his  zeal,  more  freshness  in  his  feelings.  In 
worship,  praise  and  thanksgiving  and  intercession 
are  the  exercises  in  which  his  spirit  is  freely 
carried  forth  ;  he  could  almost  dispense  with  con- 
fession. But  as  the  years  move  on,  he  has  appar- 
ently grown  worse ;  for  although  others  speak  of 
him  as  so  good  a  man,  to  take  his  own  account  his 
character  is  made  up  of  desiderata,  his  career  is  all 
one  shortcoming.  There  was  once  a  time  when 
Moses  thought  that  he  was  the  man  to  deliver 
v  Israel.  But  now  when  God  actually  proposes  it,  he 
is  startled,  almost  petrified.  "  Who  am  I,  that  I 
should  go  unto  Pharaoh,  and  bring  forth  the  children 
of  Israel?"  Are  not  you  the  son  of  Pharaoh's 
daughter  and  the  topmost  man  among  your  people 
— the  fosterling  of  royalty — the  favourite  of  fortune 
— the  statesman  and  the  sage  ?  and  if  not  you,  who 
is  there  else  ?  But  all  these  proud  swelling  thoughts 
have  long  since  subsided,  and  Moses  has  again  in  liis 
own  eyes  dwindled  down  into  the  son  of  the  Hebrew 
thrall  and  the  herdman  of  Jethro's  cattle.  And  so 
as  regarded  superior  sanctity,  personal  prowess,  the 
gift  of  persuasive  oratory — on  every  attribute  of 
special  aptitude  for  such  a  work  he  founded  a 
special  difficulty ;  and  the  man  who  earlier  in  the 


THE  CALL.  91 

day  had  been  so  little  deterred  by  any  felt  defi- 
ciency that  he  would  have  volunteered  on  the 
service,  now  that  he  is  summoned  to  assume  it  he 
has  only  one  plea  after  another :  "  They  will  ask 
me,  What  is  God's  name  ?  They  will  not  believe  me. 
They  will  say,  The  Lord  hath  not  appeared  unto 
thee.     And  then,  0  my  Lord,  I  am  not  eloquent." 

From  a  subsequent  expression  of  his  father-in- 
law  (iv.  18),  it  would  seem  as  if  Moses  had  little 
idea  how  affairs  were  proceeding  in  Egypt ;  but  a 
new  crisis  had  arisen.  The  old  king  was  dead.  In 
all  likelihood  this  was  an  event  to  which  his 
hapless  vassals  had  looked  forward  with  hope  ;  for 
however  profligate  and  unprincipled  a  young  prince 
may  be,  he  is  seldom  so  cruel  as  a  surly  old  tyrant. 
But  in  this  instance  a  Claudius  was  followed  by  a 
Nero,  and  when  the  wretched  bondmen  found  that 
the  new  sovereign  meant  to  carry  through  the 
harsh  measures  of  his  father,  their  spirits  failed. 
They  could  no  longer  cheat  their  misery  with  the 
hope  of  change.  They  could  no  longer  cheer  one 
another  with  bulletins  of  the  old  king's  failing 
strength  and  advancing  infirmities.  The  new  king 
was  young  and  strong,  and  in  the  course  of  nature 
would  see  half  of  them  into  their  graves  ;  and  with 
liis  iron  heart  and  savage  humour  it  was  a  fearful 
prospect  for  themselves  and  their  children.  But 
having  no  heir-apparent  now  to  look  to,  they  looked 


92  THE  CALL. 

— where  few  of  them,  it  is  to  be  feared,  had  looked 
before — they  looked  to  the  Lord  ;  and  as  the  cry  of 
their  agony  pierced  the  heavens,  "  God  heard  their 
groaning."  He  remembered  His  covenant  with 
Abraham,  and  slight  as  was  the  personal  claim  of 
the  suppliants,  He  recalled  His  promise  to  their 
believing  fathers  and  resolved  to  deliver  them. 
But  Israel  saw  no  sign.  There  was  no  diminution 
of  their  tasks,  no  mollifying  on  the  part  of  their 
inexorable  masters,  no  hint  of  release  or  holiday  : 
but  the  sky  burnt  hot  and  the  rod  fell  hard  as  ever. 
Nay,  there  was  not  even  an  angelic  messenger,  nor 
a  prophet  sent  from  among  their  brethren  to  bid 
them  bear  up  and  hold  on.  Yet  it  was  all  in 
motion :  the  Lord  had  arisen  out  of  His  place  and 
deliverance  was  at  hand ;  for  w^hilst  they  were 
weeping  and  slaving  and  pouring  forth  the  petitions 
of  despair  in  Egypt,  the  bush  was  already  burning 
in  Horeb  and  the  appointed  deliverer  was  receiving 
his  instructions  and  commission,  and  hastening  on 
the  path  of  rescue. 

Wherever  there  is  prayer  God  is  present ;  nay, 
wherever  there  is  prayer  on  the  part  of  man,  there 
is  an  immediate  answer  on  the  part  of  God, 
although  that  answer  is  not  always  instantly  per- 
ceptible. The  cry  may  go  up  from  Egypt  and  the 
answer  may  come  down  at  the  back  of  the  desert. 
Nay,  God  Himself  may  have  come  down  to  the 


THE  CALL.  93 

very  spot,  and  may  be  surveying  tlie  sorrow  and 
sustaining  the  sufferer  with  a  secret  but  powerful 
support ;  and  yet,  as  there  is  no  voice  to  break  the 
silence,  no  visible  glory  to  irradiate  the  gloom,  the 
groaning  may  still  go  on  and  for  a  time  the  sup- 
pliant may  continue  to  exclaim,  "  Hath  God 
forgotten  to  be  gracious  ?" 

What  makes  your  misery?  Perhaps  you  suffer 
through  your  fellow- men,  through  man's  unfairness 
or  man's  oppression.  You  make  bricks  for  the 
Egyptians.  You  serve  an  unkind  or  thankless 
master.  You  are  unequally  yoked  with  a  com- 
panion morose  and  savage.  If  so,  without  omitting 
any  reasonable  measure  for  redress,  your  true  refuge 
is  in  prayer.  And  hitherto  all  your  efforts  at  extri- 
cation may  have  been  allowed  to  fail  just  on  very 
purpose  to  shut  you  up  to  this,  the  true  and  God- 
glorifying  resource.  So,  without  losing  longer  time, 
cry  you  to  God,  and  He  will  hear  your  groaning, 
and  will  come  down  and  deliver  you.  By  softening 
some  stern  nature,  by  opening  some  stubborn  door, 
by  raising  up  and  sending  to  the  rescue  some  for- 
gotten or  unexpected  Moses,  He  will  show  that  your 
extremity  is  His  opportunity ;  that  there  are  no 
circumstances  which  Omnipotence  cannot  conquer ; 
no  jarring  elements  or  conflicting  interests  which 
Infinite  Wisdom  cannot  reconcile. 

What  makes  your  misery  ?     You  are  perhaps  in 


94  THE  CALL. 

slavery.  You  are  serving  divers  lusts  and  passions. 
The  Hebrew  is  in  bondage  to  the  Egyptian.  The 
higher,  finer  nature  is  in  subjection  to  the  coarser 
and  the  worse.  You  know  it,  and  you  sometimes 
feel  it ;  and  as  you  look  on  the  ignominious  fetters, 
and  shake  the  chains  which  gall  you,  you  exclaim, 
"  0  wretched  man  that  I  am  !  who  shall  deliver  me  ?" 
And  you  are  beginning  to  see  that  you  cannot 
deliver  yourself.  You  have  tried  both  force  and 
flight,  you  have  knocked  down  your  tyrant  and 
tormentor,  and  you  have  also  run  away.  But  here 
you  are  again,  the  slave  of  appetite,  the  victim  of 
strong  drink,  the  gambler,  the  libertine,  throwing 
away  your  substance  in  the  devil's  service,  and  into 
the  bricks  that  are  to  build  your  own  prison  kneading 
up  your  health,  your  peace  of  mind,  your  reputation. 
Oh  it  is  a  bitter,  bitter  bondage  !  the  immortal  in 
thraldom  to  tl\e  brute  ;  the  foul  fiend  leading  to  and 
fro,  with  a  rope  around  his  neck,  one  who  might 
have  been  the  heir  of  heaven  !  But  if  you  really 
loathe  it,  and  cry  to  God  by  reason  of  the  bondage. 
He  will  come  down  and  set  you  free.  His  Holy 
Spirit  entering  will  fill  you  with  a  joy  and  happiness 
which  will  leave  no  lack  and  find  no  need  for  the 
pleasures  of  sin ;  and,  inspiring  you  with  new  and 
noble  tastes,  He  will  fortify  you  so  as  to  resist  and 
vanquish  the  temptations  which  will  still  be  sure 
to  come,  until  a  better  nature  gets  gradually  built 


THE  CALL.  95 

up  within,  a  nature  on  which  gross  allurements 
exert  no  more  attraction  than  the  garbage  which 
brings  the  raven  to  your  feet  has  power  to  lure  the 
turtle  from  the  bough  ;  than  the  husks  which  the 
swine  do  eat  have  power  to  bend  an  angel  from  his 
flight.  This  is  a  kind  which  goes  out  by  prayer  and 
fasting.  So  cry  to  God.  For  the  glory  of  His 
holy  name,  and  for  the  sake  of  His  interceding  Son, 
beg  that  He  would  break  that  chain  with  which  you 
have  so  long  been  bound,  and  the  links  of  which 
your  own  hands  have  forged  in  days  of  delirious 
folly  ;  beg  that  He  would  loose  you  from  your  bond 
this  very  Sabbath-day. 

What  makes  your  misery  ?  Perhaps  you  are  in 
bondage  to  a  broken  and  threatening  law.  A  law 
fulfilled  is  friendly,  and  such  is  the  law  to  which 
the  believer  does  homage ;  a  law  fulfilled  by  his 
Eepresentative,  and  therefore  coming  to  himself,  not 
to  curse  and  condemn,  but  to  counsel  and  control, 
to  regulate  and  guide  ;  a  law  that  is  friendly  and 
propitious  for  the  sake  of  the  law^-magnifying  Surety, 
the  law-fulfilling  Saviour.  But  perhaps  the  only 
law  you  know  is  the  law^  which  you  have  broken, 
and  which  frowns  and  looks  severe,  and  says  ever- 
more,— "  The  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die."  Or, 
to  put  it  more  plainly,  you  want  to  reach  the  j)ro- 
mised  land  of  peace  and  reconciliation,  but  you  have 
in.  the  meanwhile  got  into  a  house  of  bondage.     You 


96  THE  CALL. 

have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  a  taskmaster,  whom 
we  shall  call  the  Commandment,  and  you  say  to 
yourself,  "  If  I  could  only  please  this  rigid  overseer 
for  a  while,  he  would  allow  me  to  quit  Egypt  at  last, 
and  I  should  go  on  my  ^vay  rejoicing.  But  he  is  so 
strict  and  stern.  I  have  no  sooner  done  one  thing 
than  he  calls  me  to  account  for  another.  I  said  my 
prayers  this  morning  as  seriously  as  possible,  and 
w^as  rather  pleased  with  myself  because  I  read  my 
chapter  with  some  pleasure,  when  on  a  sudden 
provocation  T  lost  my  temper,  and  all  my  happiness 
took  flight.  A  few  days  ago  I  was  beginning  to 
hope  the  best,  for  I  w^as  conscious  of  so  much 
obligingness  and  charity  and  general  good- will; 
when  the  spell  Avas  broken,  and  my  love  to  the 
brethren  w^as  sensibly  impaired  by  that  primary 
and  impracticable  requirement,  'Thou  shalt  love 
the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart  and  soul.'  To 
confess  the  truth,  in  the  way  that  he  haunts  and 
harasses  me  I  feel  as  if  my  Lord's  commandment 
did  me  more  harm  than  good.  He  exacts  bricks 
without  providing  straw ;  and  when  I  begin  to 
brighten  up  and  ask  if  I  am  not  doing  well,  he 
flourishes  in  my  face  a  long  list  of  faults  and  errors, 
and  positively,  by  his  severe  and  peremptory  tone, 
he  is  like  to  put  me  out  of  love  with  goodness,  and 
drive  me  to  despair."  Such  at  least  was  the  ex- 
perience of  an  earnest,  anxious  man,  who  has  left 


THE  CALL.  97 

his  memoirs  in  tlie  7th  to  the  Eomans,  and  who 
tells  us,  "  Sin  taking  occasion  by  the  commandment, 
wrought  in  me  all  sorts  of  bad  desires ;  and  the 
commandment,  which  was  originally  ordained  as 
the  way  to  life,  I  found  the  means  of  death."  And 
so  will  it  ever  be  as  long  as  you  continue  in  the 
house  of  bondage,  resting  your  hope  on  your  own 
prospective  holiness ;  resting  your  hope  on  propi- 
tiating that  law  which  has  no  power  to  pardon,  only 
the  power  to  command  and  threaten  and  condemn. 
But  from  this  legal  bondage,  this  thraldom  to  a 
threatening,  frowning  law,  the  Lord  Jesus  offers  to 
deliver  you  ;  and  this  by  doing  no  disparagement 
to  the  law  itself,  which  He  has  magnified  and  made 
honourable,  and  all  whose  righteous  requirements  He 
fondly  and  loyally  fulfilled.  If  to  this  greater  than 
Moses  you  listen,  "  the  law  of  the  life-giving  Spirit 
in  Him  will  make  you  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and 
death."  ^  Crucified  for  your  offences,  and  raised 
again  for  your  justification,  you  will  find  expiation 
for  the  past  in  His  sacrifice,  and  merit  for  the  pre- 
sent in  His  spotless  obedience.  Made  free  by  the 
Son,  you  shall  be  free  indeed,  and  "  walking "  not 
in  laxity,  but  "  at  liberty,"  the  taskmaster-precept 
will  be  transformed  into  a  commandment  holy,  just, 
and  good,  and  the  mercenary  obedience  of  the  slave 
into  the  devotion  of  the  affectionate  disciple. 

1  Rom.  viii.  2. 
G 


98  THE  CALL. 

I  shall  enter  no  further  on  the  narrative  at 
present.  There  was  a  famous  column  in  the  Forum 
at  Eome,  and  all  the  roads  of  the  empire  led  to  it, 
and  their  miles  were  measured  from  it.  The  Mil- 
liarium  of  the  Bible — the  centre  of  its  system — is 
the  Cross.  All  its  paths  lead  thither.  To-night 
we  started  from  the  back  of  the  desert — we  began 
our  walk  among  the  bleak  ravines  of  Sinai ;  and 
now,  inevitably  and  by  simply  going  on,  we  find 
ourselves  in  sight  of  Calvary.  And  we  won't  turn 
back.  Let  us  go  away  looking  at  Him  who  took 
upon  Himself  the  form  of  a  servant  in  order  to 
deliver  us  from  a  double  slavery — from  bondage 
to  sin,  and  bondage  to  a  cursing,  because  broken, 
law.  My  beloved  hearers,  are  you  sure  of  it  ? 
Has  Christ  given  you  this  twofold  liberty — deliver- 
ance from  the  bondage  of  corruption ;  deliverance 
from  the  penalty  of  a  violated  covenant,  a  broken 
commandment?  Or,  taking  this  last  as  the  first, 
Have  you  found  that  "  the  wages  of  sin  is  death  ; 
but  that  the  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life,  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord"?  Have  you  learned  with 
Luther,  "  Like  as  the  earth  engendereth  not  rain, 
nor  by  her  own  strength  and  travail  is  able  to  pro- 
cure it,  but  receives  it  from  above,  the  mere  gift  of 
God ;  so  that  other  gift  of  God,  eternal  life  through 
a  Mediator,  is  given  us  without  our  works  or  de- 
servings  ?     Look  then,  as  much  as  the  earth  is  able 


THE  CALL.  99 

to  do  ill  procuring  the  shower  that  makes  it  fresh 
and  fruitful, — so  much  can  our  strength  and  works 
achieve  in  winning  that  heavenly  boon  of  God's 
eternal  righteousness.  It  is  God's  unspeakable  gift, 
and  is  ours  by  His  mere  imputation." 

And  has  that  same  Divine  Emancipator  who 
proclaims  liberty  to  the  captives  and  the  opening 
of  the  prison  to  them  that  are  bound,  has  He 
rescued  you  from  the  bond  of  iniquity,  from  be- 
setting sins,  from  the  despotism  of  imperious  lusts 
and  passions  ?  If  you  fear  not  yet,  let  your  cry  go 
up  to  Him  now.  There  is  no  need  that  you  should 
die  in  the  dungeon  ;  no  need  that  you  should  perish 
with  Satan's  fetters  on  your  limbs,  with  a  sinful 
habit  entwined  and  twisted  round  your  soul.  Cry 
to  God.  In  rage  and  revenge  against  the  accursed 
thing,  cry  to  God  to  remember  His  covenant  with 
His  own  beloved  Son,  and  look  down  in  pity  on 
your  struggle  with  this  crucifier  of  Christ,  this 
vampire  which  has  fastened  on  you,  and  is  draining 
the  life's  blood  of  your  immortal  soul.  He  is 
very  gracious.  Most  tender  are  His  mercies,  most 
prompt  and  present  is  His  aid.  He  will  surely  see 
your  affliction,  and  will  hear  your  cry  by  reason  of 
this  taskmaster.  He  knows  yoiu?  sorrows,  and  will 
come  down  to  deliver  you  ;  and  in  due  time  will 
bring  you  to  a  good  land  and  a  large,  even  a  better 
than  that  land  which  flowed  with  milk  and  honey. 


VI. 

%\xt  fiurning  fiuBh. 


And  the  Angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  unto  him  in  a  flame  of  fire  out 
of  the  midst  of  a  bush  ;  and  he  looked,  and,  behold,  the  bush 
burned  with  fire,  and  the  bush  was  not  consumed." — Ex.  ni.  2. 


For  His  various  pupils  that  great  Teacher,  the 
Holy  Spirit,  has  different  methods  of  training,  and 
their  education  is  carried  on  in  widely  different 
seminaries.  In  the  case,  however,  of  those  who  are 
destined  to  head  mighty  moral  revolutions,  we  find 
that  a  period  of  seclusion  and  abstraction  has  been 
the  almost  uniform  preparation.  It  was  from  a 
prolonged  retreat  beside  the  brook  Cherith,  and 
afterwards  in  a  cavern  of  this  very  Horeb,  that 
Elijah  issued  forth  on  the  two  great  incidents  of  his 
grand  career ;  and  it  was  from  a  similar  but  longer 
sojourn  in  the  hill-country  of  Judea,  that,  in  the 
spirit  and  power  of  Elijah,  Messiah's  harbinger 
burst  forth  on  an  astonished  people.  Luther's 
Horeb  was  the  period  he  spent  in  the  Augustinian 
convent ;  Knox's  Horeb  was  his  seventeen  months 
in  the  French  galley ;  and  there  are  men  now  living 


THE  BURNING  BUSH.  101 

who  are  exertinf]^  a  largre  influence  on  tlieir  brethren, 
whose  own  spirit  was  first  wound  up  to  the  right 
intensity  during  a  season  of  repose  and  solitude, 
and  who  came  forth  from  their  chosen  or  enforced 
retreat  with  a  baptism  on  them  which  still  re- 
maineth. 

A  coated  phial  will  hold  a  certain  charge  of 
electricity ;  but  if  there  are  a  number  of  minute 
conductors  in  contact  with  it,  they  will  draw  off  the 
force  as  fast  as  it  flows  in,  and  reduce  to  nothing  what 
might  otherwise  have  been  a  flash  of  mimic  light- 
ning. A  tree  that  grows  in  a  forest,  and  surrounded 
by  a  million  more — it  may  be  straight  and  tall,  and 
there  may  be  no  bend  or  flaw  in  its  smooth  and 
taper  bole ;  but  its  roots  are  shallow,  and  sliould 
some  chance  bereave  it  of  its  comrades — should  it 
be  left  alone — the  first  blast  will  lay  its  leafy 
honours  in  the  dust ;  for  its  growth  was  entirely 
gregarious  ;  its  safety  lay  in  its  associates  ;  and  now 
that  this  shield  is  gone,  having  no  depth  of  earth, 
the  moment  that  the  long  fingers  of  the  hurricane 
are  twisted  in  its  locks,  it  goes  over  with  a  crash, 
and  the  birds  no  longer  build  in  its  branches.  So 
with  earnest  feeling  in  a  bustling  place :  it  gets 
no  leisure  to  accumulate.  The  seriousness  of  the 
Sabbath  is  stolen  by  the  week  ;  nay,  it  is  spirited 
away  by  the  first  beams  of  the  following  day.  A 
jocular  companion,  an  urgent  engagement,  an  ab- 


102  THE  BURNING  BUSH. 

sorbing  care,  a  multitude  of  matters,  some  idle  and 
some  innocent — like  so  many  furtive  conductors, 
like  the  very  vapour  in  the  atmosphere,  are  quietly 
robbing  you  of  the  elevation  or  energy  which  you 
felt  at  night ;  and  before  the  good  purpose  comes 
forth  in  any  definite  or  decisive  act,  the  power  has 
vanished  and  you  are  weak  as  other  men.  And  so 
with  the  piety  which  is  produced  and  fostered 
merely  by  good  comx^anionship  :  as  long  as  you  are 
under  the  roof  of  pious  parents,  as  long  as  you 
enjoy  the  fellowship  of  earnest  and  fervent  friends, 
you  may  hold  on ;  but  when  cast  on  the  wide 
world,  or  brought  into  circumstances  of  strong 
temptation,  if  you  are  not  kept  close  to  God  by 
God  himself ;  if  you  are  not  so  rooted  and  grounded 
in  the  truth  as  to  render  your  piety  decided  and 
independent  of  human  support,  it  will  be  too  likely 
to  fall  wdien  the  weather  breaks  and  the  tempests 
blow. 

By  choosing  the  better  part,  Moses  was  so  far 
ready  for  any  work  that  God  designed ;  and  in  his 
palace-life  he  had  been  unconsciously  receiving  a 
portion  of  his  training.  He  had  got  some  insight  to 
statesmanship  and  military  affairs ;  he  had  acquired 
the  etiquette  of  the  Egyptian  court,  and  had  learned 
to  be  at  home  in  the  presence  of  princes.  But  these, 
like  "the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,"  were  mere 
accomplishments,  and  for  the  great  but  unguessed 


THE  BURNING  BUSH.  103 

•undertaking  before  him  Moses  needed  a  profound 
and  peculiar  discipline.  He  needed  to  grow  in 
acquaintance  with  that  God  with  whom  he  was 
hereafter  to  commune  face  to  face,  and  whose  mes- 
senger and  spokesman  he  was  to  be  in  a  manner  so 
special  and  pre-eminent.  He  needed  to  be  lifted 
completely  and  conclusively  above  those  mixed  or 
meaner  motives  by  which  well-intentioned  men  are 
so  often  in  large  measure  actuated.  He  needed  to 
be  raised  nearer  to  heaven  than  earth  ;  and,  we  may 
add,  he  needed  to  have  his  entire  spirit  so  habituated 
to  lofty  thoughts,  so  accustomed  and  inured  to  live 
at  a  high  level,  that  in  after  days, 

"  As  some  taU  rock  amidst  the  waves 
The  fury  of  the  tempest  braves," 

so  his  spirit  should  be  able  to  surmount  the 
molestations  and  the  murmurs,  the  opposition  and 
the  obloquy,  which  for  the  next  forty  years,  like  a 
troubled  sea,  should  chafe  and  churn  around  him. 

For  such  purpose  no  retirement  could  have  been 
found  more  suitable  than  the  desert  of  Horeb,  that 
"  great  and  terrible  wilderness,"  which  a  friend  thus 
describes  : — "  It  was  a  vision  of  more  utter  barren- 
ness and  desolation  than  we  had  ever  seen  or 
fancied ;  no  soft  feature  in  the  landscape  to  miti- 
gate the  unbroken  horror.  No  green  spot,  no  tree, 
no  flower,  no  rill,  no  lake,  but  dark  brown 
ridges,  red  peaks  like  pyramids  of  solid  fire ;  no 


104  THE  BURNING  BUSH. 

rounded  hillocks,  or  soft  mountain  curves  such  as 
one  sees  in  the  ruggedest  of  home  scenes,  but  mon- 
strous and  misshapen  cliffs,  rising  tier  above  tier, 
and  surmounted  here  and  there  by  some  spire-like 
summit,  serrated  for  miles  into  ragged  grandeur,  and 
grooved  from  head  to  foot  by  the  winter  torrents 
that  had  swept  down  like  bursting  water-spouts, 
tearing  their  naked  loins,  and  cutting  into  the  very 
veins  and  sinews  of  the  fiery  rock."  "^  Amidst  this 
labyrinth  of  bald  and  blasted  mountains,  Moses 
dwelt  for  forty  years;  and  although  it  is  vain  to 
surmise  what  were  all  the  thoughts  and  musings  of 
this  protracted  interval,  we  are  inclined  to  think 
that  a  glimpse  is  given  in  that  Ninetieth  Psalm, 
entitled,  "  A  prayer  of  Moses,  the  man  of  God," — and 
which  acquires  new  significance  when  we  think  of 
the  hermit  lifting  up  his  eyes  to  these  lonely  silent 
pinnacles,  and  thinking,  "  Before  the  mountains 
were  brought  forth,  or  ever  thou  hadst  formed  the 
earth  and  the  world,  even  from  everlasting  to  ever- 
lasting, thou  art  God."  And  then,  when  his  thoughts 
reverted  to  the  wretched  scenes  in  Egypt,  "  Eeturn, 
0  Lord,  how  long  ?  and  let  it  repent  thee  concern- 
ing thy  servants.  Make  us  glad  according  to  the 
days  wherein  thou  hast  afflicted  us,  and  the  years 
wherein  we  have  seen  evil.  Let  thy  work  appear 
unto  thy  servants,  and  thy  glory  unto  their  chil- 

1  Bonar's  Desert  of  Smai,  p.  236. 


THE  BURNIXG  BUSH.  105 

dren.  And  let  the  beauty  of  tlie  Lord  our  God  be 
upon  us  :  and  establish  thou  the  work  of  our  hands 
upon  us  ;  yea,  the  work  of  our  hands  establish  thou 
it." 

At  last  came  the  eventful  day,  and  yet  a  day 
ushered  in  by  no  special  sign  nor  devoted  to  any 
unusual  solemnity.  Moses  had  led  out  his  flock  as 
far  as  Sinai,  where  in  some  of  the  ravines  could  be 
found  a  fragrant  pasture  for  the  goats  and  the  sheep, 
and  where  there  was  a  good  store  of  water.  It  was 
a  sword  of  fire  which  guarded  the  gates  of  Eden  ; 
it  was  in  a  chariot  of  fire  that  Elijah  ascended  to 
heaven;  it  was  a  pillar  of  fire  which  guided  the 
pilgrims  in  their  desert  journey,  and  which  after- 
wards settled  down  between  the  cherubim  in  the 
Holy  of  Holies ;  it  was  with  tongues  of  fire  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  symbolized  His  presence  on  the  day 
of  Pentecost ;  and  it  was  with  an  effulgence  beyond 
the  noon  that  the  fury-breathing  persecutor  was 
dashed  down  on  the  way  to  Damascus  ;  so  that  the 
element  which  we  deem  the  purest  and  most  pene- 
trating, Jehovah  seems  to  have  employed  throughout 
as  His  especial  badge  and  cognisance,  the  opening 
of  His  eye,  the  flash  of  His  finger.  But  of  this 
Moses  was  not  thinking  when  a  great  sight  arrested 
his  eye.  A.  bush,  no  palm  nor  olive,  but  a  tamarisk 
or  a  thorny  acacia,  shone  out  with  a  brilliant  flame. 
It  did  not  crackle  nor  burn  down,  and  Moses  was 


106  THE  BURNING  BUSH. 

hastening  to  tlie  spot,  when  his  foot  was  arrested  by 
a  voice  divine, — a  voice  which  soon  brought  him  to 
the  dust,  hiding  his  face  and  fearing  to  look  upon 
God.  In  the  wonderful  interview  which  followed, 
the  Lord  announced  His  name  and  the  purpose  for 
which  He  had  now  appeared  to  His  servant,  and 
with  marvellous  condescension  meeting  all  the 
scruples  of  a  meek  and  self-disparaging  recluse,  He 
sent  him  home  the  most  highly  favoured  and  the 
most  heavily  burdened  amongst  the  sons  of  men ; 
the  most  highly  favoured,  inasmuch  as  he  was  the 
first  to  whom,  after  the  silence  of  ages,  Jehovah  had 
spoken ;  the  most  heavily  burdened,  inasmuch  as 
he  felt  crushed  and  overwhelmed  with  the  com- 
mission which  he  dared  not  lay  down,  and  which 
he  trembled  to  discharge. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  Jehovah  did  not 
announce  Himself  as  the  God  of  Levi,  the  God  of 
Kohath,  the  God  of  Amram,  Moses'  immediate 
progenitors  ;  but  He  goes  back  hundreds  of  years, 
and  says,  "  I  am  the  God  of  Abraham,  of  Isaac,  and 
of  Jacob,"  to  show  at  once  that  it  was  an  everlast- 
ing covenant,  and  that  although  it  had  not  "grown" 
of  late,  it  was  neither  dead  nor  dormant.  All  the 
parties  between  whom  it  had  been  originally  ratified 
still  were  extant :  God  lived,  and  Abraham,  Isaac, 
Jacob  were  living  also.  Thus  Christ  Himself  explained 
the  words.    "  Have  you  any  doubt  as  to  the  soul's 


THE  BUENING  BUSH.  107 

immortality  ?  Do  you  not  remember  how  at  tlie 
bush  God  spoke  of  the  patriarchs  as  friends  of  His, 
that  is,  as  friends  still  living  ?  For  He  is  not  the 
God  of  the  dead.  The  great  I  am  does  not  identify 
Himself  with  that  which  has  gone  into  annihilation 
and  ceased  to  be ;  so  that  if  at  the  bush  He  pro- 
claimed Himself  Abraham's  God,  Abraham  must 
still  retain  his  identity  and  consciousness,  and  the 
time  must  be  coming  when  he  shall  resume  his 
body  also, — that  body  by  which  alone  his  per- 
sonality can  be  completed,  and  his  identity  mani- 
fested to  those  who  (like  Elijah  and  the  saints 
surviving  to  the  Advent  and  then  translated)  are 
not  pure  spirits,  but  clothed  in  corporeity." 

This  proof  of  immortality,  as  exhibited  by  the 
great  Teacher,  is  sufficient;  but  we  scarcely  sup- 
pose that  He  gave  this  proof  because  the  strongest 
or  most  telling.  "  In  doubting  the  resurrection,  in 
questioning  the  soul's  immortality,  ye  do  err  from 
not  knowing  the  Scriptures,  neither  the  power  of 
God.  So  pervaded  with  this  doctrine  is  all  Eevela- 
tion,  that  it  was  implied  in  that  fundamental 
revelation  made  to  Moses,  that  announcement  of 
God's  name  which  commenced  the  theocratic  his- 
tory, and  even  the  burning  bush  blazed  with 
immortality."  But  instead  of  bearing  hard  on  those 
whose  cursory  or  cabalistic  eyes  so  often  scanned 
the  words  and  missed  the   revelation,   let  us   be 


108  THE  BURNING  BUSH. 

thankful  for  announcements  more  articulate,  for 
information  more  explicit,  and  for  proofs  so  pal- 
pable that  faith  needs  no  longer  tremble  nor  ask 
another  sign. 

And  yet,  with  life  and  immortality  brought  to 
light,  how  many  close  their  eyes  and  miss  the 
comfort!  A  few  days  ago  we  read  new  biographies 
of  two  of  the  greatest  bards  of  modern  Britain  ; 
one  the  most  ethereal  and  idealistic  of  our  poets, 
the  other  such  a  master  of  the  lyre  as  hardly  Gray 
or  Dryden  has  surpassed.  When  Shelley  was  by  a 
sudden  squall  buried  in  the  Gulf  of  Genoa,  William 
Godwin  wrote  to  the  young  and  distracted  widow, 
his  own  daughter,  "  My  poor  girl !  Wliat  do  you 
mean  to  do  with  yourself?  You  surely  do  not 
mean  to  stay  in  Italy  ?  .  .  .  Above  all,  keep  up 
your  courage.  You  have  many  duties  to  perform  ; 
you  must  now  be  the  father  as  well  as  the  mother, 
and  I  trust  you  have  energy  of  character  enough  to 
enable  you  to  perform  your  duties  honourably  and 
well."^  Is  not  this  exquisite  sympathy  from  a 
father  to  his  favourite  child,  "My  poor  girl,  what  do 
you  mean  to  do  with  yourself  ?"  Is  not  this  strong 
consolation  from  the  philosopher  who  could  dispense 
with  Christianity  :  "  Keep  up  your  courage.  I  trust 
to  your  energy  !"  Again,  when  Campbell  lost  his 
wife  (and  I  fear  he  had  lost  any  practical  faith  in 

1  Memorials  of  Shelley,  p.  206.    Lond.  1859. 


THE  BURNING  BUSH.  109 

Christianity  beforehand)  his  reflection  was,  "These 
are  strange  dispensations,  and  to  what  demonstrated 
end?"  but  added,  "There  must  be  a  God,  that  is 
evident :  there  must  be  an  all-powerful,  inscrutable 
God."^  With  deaths  so  dreary,  or  rather  with  sur- 
vivors so  desolate  in  their  sorrow,  contrast  the  hope 
full  of  immortality.  "  Surely,"  writes  the  great 
scholar  Bengel  after  the  death  of  his  child,  "Surely, 
when  the  door  of  paradise  is  opened  to  let  in  any  of 
our  departed  friends,  delicious  breezes  blow  through 
it  upon  us  from  that  abode  of  blessedness."  "As  I 
reclined  my  head  upon  my  dying  child's  little 
couch,  I  thought  I  could  gladly  die  with  it  that 
moment."  And  when  dying  himself,  said  the  suc- 
cessful physician  Dr.  Gordon,  "I  have  found  in 
Christ  a  happiness  I  did  not  think  existed  on  this 
side  the  grave.  People  have  said  that  death  is 
frightful.  I  look  on  it  with  pleasure.  I  see  no 
monsters  around  me.  Death  ?  I  see  no  death  at 
my  bed-side.  It  is  that  benign  Saviour  waiting  to 
take  me.  This  is  not  the  testimony  of  one  who  has 
nothing  to  live  for.  I  am  in  the  prime  of  life,  with 
comforts  and  friends  around  me ;  but  the  prospect 
of  heaven  is  more  than  all."^ 

You  are  immortal,  my  brethren.     If  you  have 
found  the  Saviour,   you  have  experienced   a   first 

^  Redding's  Reminiscences  of  Campbell,  vol.  ii.  p.  131. 
2  Dr.  Gordon,  by  Newman  Hall,  p.  171. 


110  THE  BURNING  BUSH. 

resurrection.  The  heart  which  was  dead  before  has 
come  alive  again,  and  you  have  got  new  feelings 
towards  God  and  holiness.  You  trust  in  Jesus. 
You  believe  that  He  has  gone  to  His  Father's  house, 
and  you  will  believe  that  He  will  keep  His  promise, 
and  that  where  He  is  you  shall  be  taken  at  last,  to 
dwell  with  Him  for  ever.  But  to  keep  that  hope 
alive,  you  must  keep  close  to  Him  who  gave  it. 
"A  darkening  universe"  you  may  defy 

"  To  quench  your  immortality 
Or  shake  your  trust  in  God." 

But  that  which  a  darkening  universe  cannot  do 
may  be  effectually  done  by  a  sinful  indulgence  or  a 
departing  Saviour  :  for  the  wages  of  sin  is  death, 
and  there  is  death  in  leaving  the  Fountain  of  Life. 
Oh,  it  is  a  chilly  clime,  that  land  of  estrangement 
from  God, — and  under  the  hazy,  frosty  cloud  which 
a  guilty  conscience  brings  over  the  scene,  confidence 
Godward  and  the  hope  of  a  glorious  hereafter 
wither  away,  and  even  the  strength  for  discharging 
duty  and  the  elasticity  for  bearing  trial.  So,  dear 
friends,  as  you  would  desire  never  to  penetrate  the 
fearful  mysteries  of  the  second  death,  escape  from 
the  darkness  and  horrors  of  the  first.  Be  sure  that 
you  have  really  emerged  from  the  grave  of  ungodli- 
ness,— the  death  of  trespasses  and  sins.  Be  sure 
that,  like  a  tombstone  on  your  soul,  there  is  no  bad 
besetment,  no  sinful  habit  holding  down  your  spirit. 


THE  BUENING  BUSH.  Ill 

And  in  loving  obedience  and  affectionate  com- 
munion, keep  near  that  Conqueror  of  death,  who  to 
faithful  discipleship  says,  "  Because  I  live,  ye  shall 
live  also."  And  in  daily  devotion,  in  the  sanctified 
Sabbath  and  the  frequented  sanctuary,  keep  as  near 
as  you  can  to  heaven's  gate, — in  those  connections 
and  employments  where  He  who  is  "  the  God  not 
of  the  dead  but  of  the  living"  will  be  apt  to  meet 
you,  and  where  you  may  be  cheered  by  a  glimpse  of 
that  world  in  which  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob 
now  dwell  with  God. 

There  is  something  wonderfully  sublime  and 
spirit-filling  in  that  name  by  which  the  Llost  High 
now  announced  Himself  to  Moses,  and  by  which,  in 
its  form  of  Jehovah,  He  is  designated  throughout 
the  Old  Testament  Scriptures,  "  I  am  that  I  am," 
the  Self-existent,  the  Immutable,  the  Eternal,  the 
one  living  God,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  lords  many 
which  Egypt  and  the  other  idolaters  adored.  But 
self-sufficing  as  His  own  perfections  are,  great  are 
His  compassions,  most  gracious  and  forthgoing  His 
propensities.  The  plenitude  of  His  own  joy  occasions 
no  indifference  to  the  cry  of  the  Hebrew  bondmen, 
the  absoluteness  of  His  perfections  is  itself  a  neces- 
sity for  fulfilling  the  promise  to  the  patriarchs.  And 
this  is  the  believer's  privilege.  In  the  Divine  nature 
there  is  nothing  so  august  or  glorious  but  it  may 
become  to  him  a  theme  of  pleasing  contemplation  ; 


112  THE  BURNING  BUSH. 

for  that  blessed  relation  to  the  Most  High  which 
through  the  Mediator  he  has  resumed,  invests  each 
perfection  with  light  and  endearment.  In  itself, 
"  I  AM  THAT  I  am"  is  a  name  high  and  lifted  up. 
Its  Divine  independence  seems  to  shut  the  creatures 
outside ;  it  seems  to  fling  "  dust  and  ashes"  to  an 
infinite  distance.  But  when  we  find  that,  through 
the  grace  of  this  glorious  God,  sinners  may  be  saved 
— when  we  find  that  frail  fellow-mortals  may  be 
taken  up  into  God's  eternity — when  we  find  that 
the  life  of  Abraham  is  now  locked  up  within  the 
life  of  God,  whilst  Abraham,  the  friend  of  God, 
retains  his  personality  and  his  place  in  God's  affec- 
tion, the  name  grows  full  of  strength  and  comfort. 
We  venture  to  hope  that  we  may  be  saved  even 
as  they,  and  that  we  too  may  find,  within  that 
unchanging  name,  our  impregnable  and  immortal 
dwelling-place ;  and  so  we  sing,  at  once  adoring  and 
confiding — 

"  The  God  of  Abram  praise  ! 
Who  reigns  enthroned  above  ; 
Ancient  of  everlasting  days, 
And  God  of  love  ! 
Jehovah  !  great  I  am  ! 
By  earth  and  heaven  confessed, 
I  bow  and  bless  the  sacred  Name, 
For  ever  blessed  ! 

The  God  of  Abram  praise  ! 
Whose  all-sufi&cient  grace 
Shall  guide  me  all  my  happy  days 
In  all  His  ways  : 


THE  BURNING  BUSH.  113 

He  calls  a  worm  His  friend  ! 
He  calls  Himself  my  God  ! 
And  He  shall  save  me  to  the  end 
Through  Jesus'  blood." 

That  burning  bush,  laid  a  lasting  hold  on  the 
memory  and  imagination  of  Moses.  When  his  com- 
mission was  ended,  when  about  to  lay  down  his 
miraculous  rod,  and  recalling  how  not  one  of  the 
good  things  which  God  had  spoken  had  failed,  and 
how  all  the  difficulties  which  his  own  timidity  had 
conjured  up  had  disappeared,  he  reverted  to  this 
memorable  scene,  and,  in  blessing  all  the  tribes,  the 
best  blessing  he  could  wish  for  Joseph  was  "  the 
goodwill  of  Him  that  divelt  in  the  hush."'^  Apart 
from  all  its  adjuncts  the  sight  was  striking;  in 
connection  with  the  voice  of  Jehovah,  in  connection 
with  the  affliction  in  Egypt  and  the  deliverance 
which  from  that  instant  dated,  it  was  a  sight  never 
to  be  forgotten.  It  was  a  sight  profoundly  signi- 
ficant. As  we  have  already  hinted,  the  glory  of 
God  was  emblemed  by  the  effulgence  which  out- 
shone the  day ;  but  it  was  not  a  mere  effulgence. 
"  The  bush  burned ;"  it  did  not  simply  gleam  with 
a  mere  phosphorescence  or  lambent  light,  but  it 
"  burned  with  fire;"  and  it  was  with  Moses  the 
amazement  how  so  fierce  a  flame  could  involve  the 
branches  and  yet  leave  them  fresh  and  green.  As- 
suredly a  sign,  it  was  a  symbol  also,  not  merely  a 

1  Deut.  xxxiii.  16. 
H 


^l 


114  THE  BURNING  BUSH. 

prodigy  but  a  lesson  to  the  eye,  a  symbol  inter- 
preted, wlien  from  the  burning  bush  Jehovah  said, 
"  I  have  seen  the  affliction  of  my  people  in  Egypt, 
and  have  heard  their  cry  by  reason  of  their  task- 
masters." And  doubtless  the  Christian  Fathers  were 
right  in  understanding  the  lowly  bush  preserved 
amidst  the  fire  as  an  emblem  not  only  of  Israel  in 
Egypt,  but  of  the  Church  of  God  in  a  persecuting 
world ;  and  our  Church  of  Scotland  fathers  have  not 
only  sanctioned  the  interpretation  by  adopting  the 
emblem,  but  their  records  have  supplied  new  illus- 
trations to  their  own  chosen  motto,  "  Nee  tamen 
consumebatur." 

How  signally  the  marvel  has  been  repeated  in  the 
Babylonish  captivity  as  well  as  in  the  Egyptian 
bondage,  in  the  Christian  Church  passing  through 
its  ten  persecutions  in  the  days  of  imperial  Eome, 
in  the  Albigenses,  in  the  Lollards  of  England,  in  the 
Huguenots  of  France,  in  the  Covenanters  of  Scot- 
land, we  need  not  linger  to  repeat.  There  is  one 
inference  of  practical  import  with  which  we  are 
content  to  conclude. 

The  individual  believer,  like  the  collective  com- 
pany, may  be  compared  to  this  bush.  Like  the 
lowly  shrub  in  Horeb,  you  feel  small  compared  with 
the  trees  of  the  wood.  Your  abode  is  obscure,  your 
attainments  humble.  You  are  a  root  out  of  a  dry 
ground,  and  growing  where  there  are  few  advantages. 


THE  BURNING  BUSH.  115 

And,  to  make  you  more  anxious,  the  fire  lias 
kindled  upon  you.  You  are  in  straits,  in  grievous 
perplexity  and  trouble.  You  are  in  pain  yourself,  or 
in  deep  distress  on  account  of  others,  in  the  furnace 
of  affliction,  as  we  say.  Or  you  are  assaulted  by 
fiery  darts  of  Satan,  fierce  temptations,  infidel  sug- 
gestions, allurements  to  some  great  wickedness,  till, 
in  the  red-hot  rain,  you  feel  as  if  you  must  be  utterly 
consumed.  But  call  on  God,  and  He  will  come  to 
your  rescue.  The  bush  may  be  in  the  fire,  but  if 
God  be  in  the  bush  it  runs  no  risk ;  the  flame  that 
laps  it  round  may  consume  the  canker  worms  and 
caterpillars  that  preyed  upon  its  verdure,  but  they 
will  not  scorch  the  tiniest  sprig  nor  consume  the 
most  tender  blossom.  There  is  no  affliction  so  severe 
but  under  it  God  can  support,  and  out  of  it  can  carry 
more  than  a  conqueror.  There  is  no  furnace  so  hot  as 
to  consume  a  hair  of  your  head  if  the  Son  of  God 
be  with  you  there.  And  although  all  other  temples 
should  yield  to  the  torch  of  the  destroyer,  like  the 
famed  fabric  at  Ephesus,  and  the  still  more  famous 
shrine  at  Jerusalem,  whether  it  be  the  frail  body  of 
an  afflicted  believer  or  the  twigs  and  tendrils  of  a 
bush  in  the  desert,  which  forms  the  place  of  God's 
special  indwelling,  no  fire  of  earth  or  hell  can  hurt  a 
living  shrine  of  the  Godhead,  far  less  consume  a 
temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 


"  I  will  raise  them  up  a  Prophet  from  among  their  brethren,  like  unto 
thee,  and  will  put  my  words  in  his  mouth ;  and  he  shall  speak 
unto  them  all  that  I  shall  command  him." — Deut.  xviii.  18. 

"  For  Moses  truly  said  unto  the  fathers,  A  Prophet  shall  the  Lord 
your  God  raise  up  unto  you  of  your  brethren,  like  unto  me  ;  him 
shall  ye  hear  in  all  things  whatsoever  he  shall  say  unto  you." — 
Acts  hi.  22. 

Any  one  who  lias  a  wide  acquaintance  with  the 
story  of  mankind  must  have  fallen  in  with  many 
individuals  and  many  incidents  which,  to  a  remark- 
able extent,  are  the  repetition  of  one  another.  You 
are  reading  the  battle  of  Morgarten,  where  a  handful 
of  Swiss  drove  back  from  their  valleys  the  vast 
array  of  Austria,  and  you  are  irresistibly  reminded 
of  Marathon  and  the  little  Athenian  company  which 
there  hurled  into  the  dust  the  pride  of  Persia.  You 
read  the  disastrous  march  of  Darius  into  the  bleak 
and  hungry  wilds  of  Scythia,  and  you  see  as  in  a 
glass  Napoleon's  retreat  from  Moscow.  At  Salamis 
you  are  startled  with  strange  foreshado wings  of  the 
Spanish  Armada  and  its  destruction  on  the  coasts 
of  Britain  ;  and  even  at  Lucknow  you  will  find  few 

116 


MOSES  AND  MESSIAH.  1 1  7 

incidents  absolutely  new,  if  already  familiar  with 
the  defence  and  relief  of  Malta  and  of  Leyden.  And 
as  with  incidents  so  with  individuals.  Miltiades 
and  Aristides,  the  saviours  of  Greece,  are  one  day 
all  but  deified,  another  day  the  one  is  banished,  and 
the  other  dies  impoverished  and  disgraced.  With 
such  precedents,  with  such  knowledge  of  the  impul- 
siveness and  ingratitude  of  a  people,  you  do  not 
wonder  to  find  the  brothers  De  Witt,  after  all  their 
services  to  the  republic,  torn  to  pieces  by  the  mob 
of  Amsterdam.  Caligula,  savage,  capricious,  and 
fantastic  in  his  cruelties,  keeps  the  world  in  tremor, 
till  in  seK-defence  his  parasites  and  favourites  are 
obliged  to  join  together  and  destroy  the  blood- 
thirsty madman.  Seventeen  centuries  later  the 
same  words  would  describe  the  career  and  fate  of 
another  emperor,  Paul  of  Eussia.^  All  this  is 
natural.  If  there  be  certain  rules  which  guide  the 
course  of  Providence,  and  certain  laws  which  govern 
human  nature,  such  self- repetitions  must  abound  in 
the  annals  of  our  species.  Selfishness  and  passion, 
if  unrestrained — and  there  is  nothing  to  restrain  a 
despot — will  develop  into  a  fierce  and  headlong 
brutality,  till  even  flatterers  find  themselves  en- 
dangered, and  in  self-defence  knock  on  the  head  the 
infuriate  monster ;  hence  Caligula,  hence  Paul  of 
Eussia,  hence  the  history  of  Oriental  despotisms. 

1  See  Historical  Parallels.  —  Lib.  Ent.  Knowledge. 


1 1 8  MOSES  AND  MESSIAH. 

A  people  so  fond  of  liberty  as  not  to  care  for  life 
without  it,  will  seldom  be  allowed  to  lose  it ;  hence 
Marathon,  hence  Morgarten  and  Sempach,  hence 
Bannockburn.  And  hence  the  philosophy  of  his- 
tory. Hence  it  is  that  a  thoughtful  man,  acquainted 
with  human  nature  in  its  springs  of  action  and  its 
actual  doings,  will  often  predict,  with  surprising 
accuracy,  the  history  of  a  popular  favourite,  the 
career  of  a  commonwealth,  the  effects  of  an  im- 
portant law,  the  outgoings  of  a  revolution.  Give 
again  similar  men  and  similar  circumstances,  and 
you  will  have  again  similar  results. 

To  these  parallelisms  we  have  adverted  from  time 
to  time  in  our  sketch  of  Moses,  and  as  we  proceed 
we  shall  likely  notice  others.  But  we  are  now 
called  to  mark  an  identity  betwixt  Moses  and  an- 
other, which  cannot  be  accounted  for  as  a  mere 
casual  coincidence,  nor  even  as  one  of  those  histo- 
rical parallelisms  which  are  occasioned  by  similarity 
of  disposition  and  circumstances.  In  the  hand  of 
God,  Moses  was  himself  a  prophecy  of  a  more  illus- 
trious Successor,  and  through  his  deeds  and  services 
the  minds  of  the  peculiar  people  were  taught  ideas 
which  found  their  eventual  realization  in  that  great 
Prophet  like  unto  Moses  whom  the  Lord  at  last 
raised  up  from  amongst  His  brethren. 

When  we  say  this  we  have  not  in  view  those 
outward   or    incidental    resemblances   with   which 


MOSES  AND  MESSIAH.  119 

every  one  is  struck,  and  which  certainly  did  not 
happen  without  the  Divine  intention  and  control. 
For  example,  Moses  was  born  of  parents  in  obscure 
and  humble  station,  peasants,  exiles,  slaves ;  and 
Christ,  born  of  a  poor  virgin,  was  called  the  carpen- 
ter's son  ;  whilst  the  ark  of  bulrushes  finds  its  equi- 
valent in  the  manger  at  Bethlehem.  Moses  in  his 
infancy  had  well-nigh  fallen  a  victim  to  the  wrath 
of  Pharaoh  ;  Jesus  was  only  snatched  by  a  hand 
Divine  from  the  cruelty  of  Herod.  The  'proper' 
child,  the  son  of  Amram,  beautiful  exceedingly,  is 
suggestive  of  that  fairest  of  all  men  wdiom  God 
anointed  with  the  oil  of  gladness  above  all  His 
fellows.  And  "the  man  Moses,  exceeding  meek," 
makes  us  think  of  Him  who  says,  "  Come  unto  me, 
all  ye  that  labour,  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly." 

But  the  identity  to  which  we  allude  is  deeper, 
and  it  will  come  out,  I  hope,  as  we  proceed. 

1.  Moses  was  a  great  Deliverer.  The  Israelites 
were  in  despair.  They  laboured  and  found  no  rest. 
Their  tyrants  died,  but  the  tyranny  did  not  abate. 
The  years  went  on,  but  their  sorrows  did  not  lessen  ; 
and  amidst  their  growing  burdens  and  deepening 
anguish,  it  was  vainly  that  they  looked  around  for 
a  protector  or  champion,  for  he  was  never  like  to 
come.  Cowed  and  heart-broken,  their  cry,  their 
"  groaning  "  went  up  to  God,  and  from  God  direct  a 
deliverer  dropped  into  their  midst. 


120  MOSES  AND  MESSIAH. 

And  the  world  was  all  one  Egypt  wlien  Christ 
came.  Men  were  very  miserable.  The  great  Eoman 
bully  had  knocked  down  all  his  neighbours,  and 
left  no  independent  nation  within  sight  of  his  Seven 
Hills.  The  submissive  fed  their  masters,  the  resist- 
ful  only  supplied  victims  by  the  thousand  for  the 
gladiatorial  games.  And  worse  than  prsetors  and 
proconsuls,  men  were  serving  divers  lusts  and 
passions, — the  slaves  of  an  unseen  but  ubiquitous 
Apollyon.  The  old  Pagan  faiths  were  worn  out, 
and  such  poor  virtues  as  heathenism  for  a  time 
retained  had  yielded  to  unheard-of  crimes,  till  the 
whole  creation  groaned, — till,  mutually  embittered 
and  self-disgusted,  all  mankind  had  yielded  to  the 
bondage  of  corruption.  It  was  then  that  Christ 
came.  It  was  then  that,  hearing  the  cry,  confused 
and  anguish- stricken,  from  a  world  which  had 
lost  all  means  of  self-emancipation  or  amendment, 
God  remembered  His  covenant  and  came  down  to 
deliver.  It  was  then  that  the  Son  of  God  was 
manifest. 

2.  Moses  was  a  Prophet.  Not  that  he  uttered 
many  predictions — for  to  foretell  the  future  is  a  very 
secondary  and  subordinate  function  of  the  seer ; 
and  the  man  of  God  who  teUs.  me  what  God  is  and 
who  supplies  me  with  motives  to  become  what  God 
desires,  does  me  a  far  greater  service  than  if  he  had 
projected  ever  so  minute  a  map  of  the  future.      Of 


MOSES  AND  MESSIAH.  121 

predictions  strictly  so  called  our  text  is  almost  the 
only  example  whicli  occurs  in  the  long  career  of 
Moses ;  and  yet,  among  the  mere  sons  of  men,  he 
stands  forth  unequalled  for  the  contribution  which 
he  has  been  the  means  of  making  to  our  knowledge 
of  God  and  of  human  duty.  The  entire  Bible  is 
built  on  Genesis.  The  whole  subsequent  revelations 
assume  the  unity  of  the  Supreme  Creator  there 
revealed,  and  they  assume  the  minute  and  careful 
vigilance  of  the  great  Governor, — the  care  taken  of 
one  poor  lad  from  the  pit  in  Dothan  to  the  palace- 
gates  of  On  by  that  same  God  who  said  "  Let  there 
be  light,"  and  who  launched  the  planets  on  their 
paths, — that  ability  of  attending  to  every  affair, 
large  or  little,  which  infinite  power  gives  to  infinite 
goodness,  and  which  we  call  particular  or  special 
Providence,  the  Providence  of  Omnipotence.  And 
to  this  fundamental  lesson  of  all  piety,  transmitted 
from  patriarchal  times  and  preserved  in  Genesis, 
what  emphasis  is  given,  how  important  are  the 
additions  made  in  the  teaching  more  immediately 
Mosaic  !  The  absolute  oneness  and  spirituality  of 
the  Divine  nature.  His  unspotted  sanctity.  His  over- 
flowing goodness.  His  great  compassions !  And 
then  the  Ten  Commandments !  "  The  law  was 
given  by  Moses,"  and  no  tongue  can  tell  the  service 
rendered  to  the  cause  of  virtue  and  of  God  by  those 
way  marks  and  warnings, — those  ten  words  of  infinite 


122  MOSES  AND  MESSIAH. 

weight  which  have  kept  on  the  path  so  many  way- 
ward feet,  and  which  have  haunted  so  many  con- 
sciences till  the  wanderer  returned, — that  great 
manual -of  duty,  that  little  hand-book  of  human 
happiness,  which  we  call  the  Two  Tables,  or  Deca- 
logue. 

But  if  the  law  was  given  by  Moses,  grace  and 
truth  came  by  Jesus  Christ.  Still  mightier  in  deed 
and  in  word  than  the  great  legislator,  needing  no 
wonder-working  rod,  for  He  had  but  to  speak  and  it 
was  done,  needing  no  thunder  nor  trumpet  to  over- 
ture His  discourse  and  astonish  His  audience,  the 
Lord  Jesus  gave  a  new  idea  of  goodness  and  a  new 
exhibition  of  the  Godhead.  With  Moses  the  first 
prodigy  was  to  turn  water  into  blood,  with  Jesus 
the  beginning  of  miracles  was  to  turn  water  into 
wine  ;  and  on  the  key-note  thus  sounded  in  the 
case  of  each  the  subsequent  anthem  went  forward  : 
severity,  stern  sanctions,  the  one, — grace,  attraction, 
encouragement,  the  other ;  the  shekinah  of  the  one 
burning  with  fire,  and  fenced  round  with  the  warn- 
ing, "Put  off  thy  shoe,  for  this  is  holy  ground," 
heaven  so  opening  over  the  other  as  to  delight 
whilst  it  dazzled,  and  make  frail  mortality  still 
exclaim,  "  Master,  it  is  good  to  be  here."  How 
mild  the  accents,  yet  how  holy  and  how  pure !  how 
j)enetrating,  how  satisfying!  softly  falling  like  the 
dew,  mellifluous   as   the  manna,   and   filling  each 


,  MOSES  AND  MESSIAH.  123 

capacity,  the  greatest  and  the  smallest,  like  the 
snow  which  gives  its  convenient  portion  to  the 
crocus -cup  or  the  lichen,  and  of  which  there  is 
enough  for  the  widest  valley !  Xot  that  Jesus 
ignored  or  set  aside  the  law.  "  The  law  was  given 
by  Closes,"  but  it  lived  in  Jesus  Christ.  That  holy 
law  of  God,  He  hid  it  in  His  heart,  and  so  it 
circulated  in  the  vital  current  of  His  blood,  mant- 
ling in  His  cheek  when  a  sinless  indignation  flashed 
on  stupendous  wickedness,  and  flowing  forth  in  the 
more  familiar  tear  which  bewailed  the  fate  which 
this  wickedness  entailed, — gleaming  in  the  gracious 
smile  which  reassured  the  broken-hearted  penitent, 
and  bursting^  forth  in  that  crimson  sweat  which, 
fainting  yet  pursued,  and  which,  conquering  its 
own  reluctance,  cried,  "  Father,  Thy  will  be  done  !" 
But  if  in  Jesus  the  law  was  fulfilled,  so  in  Jesas 
God  was  manifest.  True :  He  spoke  many  kind 
words  concerning  God,  and  some  very  solemn  ones  : 
some  very  solemn  ones, — for  it  was  He  who  said, 
"  If  ye  forgive  not  them  which  trespass  against  you, 
neither  will  your  heavenly  Father  forgive  you  your 
trespasses."  It  was  He  who  said,  "  It  is  better  to 
enter  into  life  halt  or  maimed,  than  having  two 
hands  or  two  feet  to  be  cast  into  hell-fire."  But 
mostly  kind  and  comforting — indeed  all  kind  and 
comforting,  if  we  only  listen  to  them  sitting  at  the 
Master's   feet,   and   so   under  the   shadow   of  the 


124  MOSES  AND  MESSIAH. 

Mediator's  wing.  Indeed,  so  kind  and  comforting, 
that  He  has  only  one  name  for  the  Most  High, — 
"  the  Father,"  "  your  heavenly  Father," — inviting 
us  in  His  name  to  take  it  up  and  say,  "  Our  Father 
which  art  in  heaven."  But  just  as  the  Lord  Jesus 
lived  the  law,  so  it  was  chiefly  by  His  life  that  He 
let  forth  the  glories  of  the  Godhead — and  for  that 
manifestation  of  Him  whom  no  man  hath  seen  we 
must  go  not  more  to  the  words  than  to  the  mien, 
/  the  movements,  the  works  of  Immanuel.  "  Moses 
verily  was  faithful  in  all  his  house,"  but  it  was 
the  faithfulness  of  a  servant, — "  but  Christ  as  a  Son 
over  His  own  house," — a  Son  the  express  image  of 
the  Father — the  Only-Begotten,  familiar  with  His 
Father's  thoughts  from  aU  eternity,  and  giving  forth 
no  new  revelation  as  it  gradually  dawned  upon 
Him,  but  freely  acting  forth  the  Father's  mind  as  it 
had  been  from  the  beginning — acting  forth  as  far 
as  a  true  body  and  reasoning  soul  gave  scope  for 
the  manifestation.  And  so  for  the  knowledge  of 
Him  with  whom  we  have  to  do  we  must  look 
to  His  incarnate  Son.  If  we  wish  to  know  what 
are  the  prayers  which  God  will  not  regard,  we  must 
note  those  which  Jesus  did  not  answer.  If  we  wish 
to  know  what  is  the  exigency  in  which  God  will 
not  or  cannot  rescue,  we  must  find  out  the  cases 
where  imperilled  discipleship  vainly  exclaimed, 
"  Save,  Lord,  or  I  perish."      If  we  wish  to  know 


MOSES  AND  MESSIAH.  125 

what  is  the  sorrow  of  which  the  Most  High  is  a 
heedless  or  unconcerned  spectator,  we  must  mark 
the  sufferers  against  w^hose  cry  of  anguish  Jesus 
stops  His  ear,  we  must  mark  the  graves  by  whose 
brink  He  stands  without  a  tear.  If  we  wish  to 
know  w^hat  is  the  unpardonable  sin  and  w^ho  are 
the  penitents  who  need  ask  no  forgiveness,  we  must 
find  some  sinner  who  clasped  the  feet  of  Jesus  and 
was  shaken  off — we  must  find  some  blaspheming 
renegade,  some  cursing  and  swearing  apostate,  at 
whom  Jesus  would  never  look  again,  and  regarding 
whom  He  made  a  special  exception,  'Go  and  tell 
them  all  (save  Peter)  that  I  go  before  into  Galilee 
and  shall  be  glad  to  meet  them  again/ 

The  likeness  between  Moses  and  Messiah  we 
might  pursue  much  further,  and  the  parallel  would 
not  be  the  less  impressive  because  in  each  parti- 
cular we  should  find  that  the  type  was  excelled  or 
surmounted  by  the  antitype.  For  instance,  as  a 
man,  as  a  model  or  ensample  to  his  people,  Moses 
was  nearly  perfect ;  but  although  almost  he  was 
not  altogether,  and  in  the  ebullition  at  Meribah  the 
human  frailty  broke  through.  Not  so  with  Jesus. 
If  angry  He  sinned  not.  He  never  spake  un- 
advisedly with  His  lips,  and  complete  as  was  His 
code,  sublime  as  were  His  maxims,  there  was  a 
finish  in  His  goodness,  a  divine  felicity  in  His 
entire  demeanour,  which  leaves   Him  unique  and 


/ 


126  MOSES  AND  MESSIAH. 

unapproachable  among  the  sons  of  men.  Again, 
the  mh^acles  which  ]\Ioses  wrought  were  by  a 
delegated  power :  the  rod  he  carried  was  a 
borrowed  sceptre,  and  a  higher  power  wrought  all 
its  wonders.  But  affluent  in  His  own  omnipotence, 
the  will  of  Jesu.s  was  itself  a  fiat,  and  a  touch,  a 
word,  a  look  was  followed  by  a  feast  for  five 
thousand  guests,  by  a  blind  man's  cure,  by  a  dead 
man's  resurrection.  Once  more,  as  a  mediator 
Moses  had  compassion  on  the  ignorant  and  on  them 
that  were  out  of  the  way ;  and  he  had  great  power 
with  God.  But  it  is  Jesus  alone  who  is  able  to 
save  unto  the  uttermost  them  that  come  unto  God 
by  Him,  and  Jesus  is  the  only  mediator  who  in  His 
intercession  says,  "  Father,  I  will."  And  yet 
again,  as  the  leader  of  the  rescued  Israelites  Moses 
carried  them  far.  He  conducted  them  safely 
through  the  Eed  Sea  and  through  the  howling 
wilderness ;  but  he  did  not  bring  them  into  the 
Promised  Land.  But  Jesus  is  Moses  and  Joshua 
both  in  one.  Those  whom  He  brings  out  of  sin's 
bondage  He  carries  through  and  sees  them  safe  to 
the  better  country.  His  guidance  never  ceases, 
His  eye  never  dims.  His  interest  never  flags  ;  but 
those  who  once  place  themselves  beneath  His 
guardianship,  lo  !  He  is  with  them  to  the  end. 

So,   Moses    is    no    isolated    personage.      He   is 
"  that  prophet "  (John  i.)  who  prefigures  the  greatest 


MOSES  AND  MESSIAH.  127 

of  all,  and  when  we  survey  him  we  are  looking  at 
one  who  is  looking  nnto  Jesns.  This  view  of  his 
character  and  attitude  we  shall  often  find  instruc- 
tive. Like  his  own  rod  it  will  draw  water  from  the 
flinty  rock,  and  convert  into  green  pastures  the 
passages  most  arid-looking  in  all  the  history. 

Meanwhile,  it  is  with  the  prophet  like  unto 
Moses  that  we  have  expressly  to  do  ;  and  it  behoves 
us  to  ponder  the  words  here  subjoined,  "  Whoso- 
ever will  not  hearken  unto  my  words  which  He 
shall  speak  in  my  name,  I  will  require  it  of  him," 
or,  as  Peter  gives  the  purport,  "  Every  soul  that 
will  not  hear  that  Prophet  shall  be  destroyed  from 
among  the  people."  If  there  were  any  Hebrews  so 
besotted  that  they  refused  to  quit  Egypt,  they  had 
only  one  opportunity.  No  second  Passover  came. 
No  new  Moses  appeared.  The  Eed  Sea  never 
sundered  again ;  but  by  their  own  infatuation,  cut 
off  from  their  own  people,  they  drudged  out  the 
dreary  years  in  ignominious  thankless  bondage,  and 
died  in  slavery. 

When  Peter  adduced  this  precedent  he  was  ad- 
dressing his  Hebrew  countrymen,  and  he  added, 
"Ye  are  the  children  of  the  prophets,  and  of  the 
covenant  which  God  made  with  our  fathers.  Unto 
you  first,  God,  having  raised  up  his  Son  Jesus, 
sent  him  to  bless  you,  in  turning  every  one  of  you 
from   your  iniquities."     Without   any   straining — 


128  MOSES  AND  MESSIAH. 

retaining  their  real  point  and  spirit — we  might 
apply  the  apostle's  words  to  a  congregation  like 
this,  and  say,  "  Ye  are  children  of  the  prophets 
and  children  of  the  covenant.  Many  of  you  have 
had  parents  pious  and  God-fearing.  You  have 
been  trained  in  Bible-classes  and  Sabbath-schools. 
You  know  a  large  extent  of  saving  truth,  and  you 
have  enjoyed  an  immense  amount  of  helpful  Chris- 
tian influence.  If  you  were  deciding  now,  what 
an  advantage  you  would  have  over  the  converted 
Pagan,  or  even  over  the  converted  Papist !  How 
friendly  are  all  the  surrounding  circumstances  ;  how 
propitious  to  your  progress  !  To  you  God  gives  the 
first  offer  of  the  Saviour.  Suffer  Him  to  bless  you. 
Suffer  Him  to  bless  you  by  turning  you  from  your 
iniquities." 

"  Well,  and  (you  say)  it  is  not  much  that  hin- 
ders. In  turning  from  my  iniquities,  I  have  not 
to  give  up  the  gambling,  or  the  drinking,  or  the 
profligacy  which  you  were  describing  last  Lord's 
day ;  and  as  far  as  any  rampant  wickedness  is 
concerned,  I  fancy  that  I  might  soon  become  a 
Christian.  But  I  do  not  feel  disposed.  I  do  not 
see  the  need.  I  know  that  I  am  not  what  you 
would  call  a  religious  person ;  but  I  hope  that  on 
the  whole  I  do  my  duty  by  one  and  all,  and  worldly 
as  you  call  me,  I  think  I  have  some  virtues  not 
possessed  by  aU.  the  godly."     That  is  to  say,  you 


MOSES  AND  MESSIAH.  129 

are  in  tlie  position  of  an  Israelite  to  whom  with  his 
divine  commission  Moses  might  have  gone,  and  he 
should  answer,  "  No,  I  thank  you.  My  master  is 
humane.  He  does  not  set  me  any  revolting  task, 
like  so  many  of  my  brethren.  I  am  neither  sca- 
venger nor  swine-herd,  but  I  wear  this  handsome 
livery.  And  I  like  the  leeks  and  the  onions,  the 
melons  and  the  cucumbers ;  and  have  no  notion  of 
going  out  into  a  stony  desert  to  fast  and  hear  your 
sermons."^  ^  Oh,  what  an  abject !  what  a  mean  and 
unmanly  spirit  which  can  thus  plead  for  leave  to 
continue  in  bondage  !  how  well  he  deserves  to  have 
his  fetters  made  strong,  and  when  times  grow  hard 
with  him,  and  his  taskmaster  turns  on  him  and 
delivers  him  to  the  tormentors,  who  shall  pity  him  ? 
Yes,  indeed,  Christ's  offer  is  irksome.  You  have 
learned  to  like  Egypt.  You  cannot  bear  to  be 
called  a  slave,  and  yet  you  are  not  free.  You  are 
in  bondage  to  the  world — to  opinion  and  fashion ; 
there  are  friends  whose  contempt  or  coldness  you 
could  not  stand.  You  are  in  bondage  to  the  flesh  ; 
you  are  the  slave  of  appetite  or  indolence;  you 
cling  to  the  flesh-pots  ;  you  deprecate  the  march 
and  the  desert,  the  fatigue  and  the  fighting.  Or 
one  is  your  master,  even  the  devil ;  and  by  some 
fallacy  or  sophism  that  father  of  lies  persuades  you 
to  put  off  or  refuse  altogether.  Take  care  that 
you  are  not  taken  at  your  word  !     Seeing  you  hold 

I 


130  MOSES  AND  MESSIAH. 

salvation  so  cheap,  take  care  lest  when  the  Lord's 
ransomed  set  forward  yon  be  not  left  in  the  house 
of  your  bondage.  Take  care  lest  God  swear  in  His 
wrath,  "  They  shall  not  enter  into  my  rest." 

Finally,  you  who  follow  Christ,  how  much  you  owe 
HiDi  !  How  much  you  owe  Him  already,  and  how 
much  more  you  shall  owe  Him  before  all  is  over ! 
Of  your  salvation  He  is  the  Captain.  Of  His  inter- 
cession you  may  form  some  idea  from  that  memor- 
able prayer,  "  0  Lord,  this  people  have  sinned  a 
great  sin ;  howbeit,  if  Thou  wilt  forgive  their 
trespass  ;  and  if  not — then  I  pray  Thee  blot  out 
my  name  from  Thy  book."  But  as  that  is  a  name 
which  cannot  be  blotted  out,  forgiveness  asked  by 
the  great  Intercessor  cannot  be  refused.  If  once 
He  takes  charge  of  you,  He  will  see  you  safe 
through.  Of  all  guides  and  leaders,  He  is  the 
meekest  and  most  magnanimous;  and  those  who 
sing  the  song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb  will  have  the 
same  tale  to  tell  of  murmurings  forgiven  and  mercies 
multiplied — of  a  patience  which  never  intermitted 
and  a  love  that  never  was  exhausted. 


VIII. 


Signs  mh  MonhtxB—%\xz  f  kgu^s. 


And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  See,  I  have  made  thee  a  god  to 
Pharaoh  ;  and  Aaron  thy  brother  shall  be  thy  prophet.  Thou 
shalt  speak  all  that  I  command  thee  ;  and  Aaron  thy  brother 
shall  speak  unto  Pharaoh,  that  he  send  the  children  of  Israel  out 
of  his  land.  And  I  will  harden  Pharaoh's  heart,  and  multiply 
my  signs  and  my  wonders  in  the  land  of  Egypt.  But  Pharaoh 
shall  not  hearken  unto  you,  that  I  may  lay  my  hand  upon  Egypt, 
and  bring  forth  mine  armies,  and  my  people  the  children  of  Israel, 
out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  by  gi-eat  judgments.  And  the  Egyp- 
tians shall  know  that  I  am  the  Lord,  when  I  stretch  forth  mine 
hand  upon  Egypt,  and  bring  out  the  children  of  Israel  from 
among  them.  And  Moses  and  Aaron  did  as  the  Lord  commanded 
them,  so  did  they." — ExOD.  vii,  1-6. 


God's  contributions  to  the  world's  stock  of  know- 
ledge and  goodness  have  been  sent  through  the 
persons  of  our  fellow-men ;  and  of  these  Heaven- 
sent messengers,  of  these  mediums  for  bringing 
the  mind  of  God  to  earth,  none  is  more  remarkable 
than  Moses.  As  the  Tell  or  Washington  of  early 
Eastern  story,  he  would  have  claims  on  our  admira- 
tion ;  as  the  first  assertor  of  national  independence  ; 
as  the  leader  of  the  first  war  of  religious  emancipa- 
tion; as  the  liberator  of  his  people;  as  the  divinely- 

131 


132  SIGNS  AND  WONDERS — 

commissioned  conductor  of  tlie  Exodus.  But  on 
tlie  world's  gratitude  lie  has  claims  still  stronger. 
Through  whose  hand  was  it  that  God  issued  to 
mankind  the  Decalogue,  and  gave  a  rule  of  conduct 
at  once  so  plain,  so  portable,  so  comprehensive,  as 
the  Ten  Commandments  ?  To  whom  are  we  in- 
debted for  the  first  promulgation  of  the  unity,  the 
spirituality,  the  self- existence,  and  all-pervasive 
providence  of  the  Most  High  ?  Who  was  it  that 
took  in  "that  little  piece  of  holy  ground," — the 
Jewish  nationality, — and  at  once  fencing  the  en- 
closure and  trenching  the  soil,  prepared  the  plat  or 
bed  in  which  Christianity  should  fifteen  centuries 
afterwards  strike  root  and  grow  till  large  enough  to 
be  transplanted  into  the  outside  world?  Who  is 
the  penman  of  the  Pentateuch  ?  To  whom  are  we 
indebted  for  those  foundation-truths,  those  funda- 
mental oracles  on  which  David  and  Isaiah,  Paul 
and  John,  have  built  up  the  fabric  of  Divine 
Eevelation  ? 

In  the  person  of  Moses  the  Most  High  inaugu- 
rated a  new  era  in  His  dealings  with  mankind. 
Noah  hardly  excepted,  Moses  was  the  first  in  that 
series  of  prophets  who  were  at  once  seers  and  workers 
of  signs.  He  was  the  first,  as  the  apostles  were  the 
last,  who  wrought  miracles  in  attestation  of  their 
Divine  commission,  and  to  show  that  God  was  with 
them.     And  as  the  first  example  of  a  Divine  mes- 


THE  PLAGUES.  133 

sage  accredited  by  miracles,  as  tlie  commencement 
of  that  system  in  the  Divine  dealings  where 
Heaven-imparted  truth  calls  in  as  its  seconder  or 
sanction  Heaven-imparted  power,  the  narrative  is  at 
this  point  peculiarly  instructive. 

After  men  have  climbed  it  is  a  common  trick 
to  spurn  away  the  ladder.  They  push  away  the 
ladder,  and  then  at  the  top  of  their  airy  pinnacle 
they  shout  to  spectators  and  flap  their  sleeves,  as  if 
these  were  the  wings  by  which  they  had  mounted. 
So  now-a-days  there  is  a  disposition  to  speak  con- 
temptuously of  miracles.  ''  Moral  truth  is  as  much 
more  sublime  than  prodigies  or  portents  as  mind 
is  greater  than  matter ;  and  the  Sermon  on  the 
Moimt  is  more  full  of  God  than  the  resurrection  of 
Lazarus;"  whilst  some  put  it  differently,  and  say, 
"The  course  of  nature  is  much  more  stupendous 
than  any  possible  interruption.  The  perpetual 
miracle  which  raises  that  fig-tree  from  an  atom,  and 
out  of  dirty  mould  and  viewless  vapour  builds  up 
its  broad-leafed  canopy,  is  greater  than  the  casual 
miracle  which  in  a  moment  blasts  it."  Or  to  come 
to  the  actual  case  before  us  : — 

"  Earth's  crammed  with  heaven, 
And  every  common  bush  afire  with  God  : 
But  only  he  who  sees,  takes  off  his  shoes  : 
The  rest  sit  round  it  and  pluck  blackberries."^ 

But  it  won't  do  to  stand  on  the  top  of  the  obelisk 

1  Aurora  Leigh,  304. 


134  SIGNS  AND  WONDERS — 

and  wave  your  cloak,  pretending  that  your  own 
wings  took  you  thither.  It  won't  do,  Master  Poet 
or  Philosopher,  to  perch  on  some  top-truth  of 
Eevelation,  and  make-believe  that  you  soared 
straiglit  up  there  with  a  few  easy  flaps  of  your  own 
intellectual  pinions.  Here  is  the  ladder  lying  at 
the  foot,  with  the  marks  on  every  round  of  miry 
shoes  and  hob-nails  somewhat  heavy. 

You  say,  "Prodigies  are  for  barbarians  and  babes; 
but  the  mature  man,  the  philosopher,  prefers  great 
truths  and  high  principles  to  vulgar  signs  and 
wonders."  And  in  this  the  Word  of  God  so  far 
agrees  with  you.  "Tongues,"  says  the  apostle,  "are 
a  sign  to  them  that  believe  not."  As  soon  as  men 
are  believers,  they  don't  need  this  prodigy  to  arrest 
their  heedlessness  and  convince  their  incredulity. 
And  says  Jesus  himself,  "  It  is  an  evil  generation 
that  seeketh  after  a  sign."  If  it  were  sufficiently 
sincere  the  truth  would  be  its  own  witness.  But 
unfortunately  in  its  first  coming  into  a  world  like 
this,  God's  truth  does  not  find  men  friendly  but 
hostile :  it  finds  them  not  eagerly  awaiting  its 
advent  but  rather  looking  the  other  way.  It  needs 
to  catch  their  eye,  and  conquer  their  aversion.  As 
babes  or  barbarians  it  has  to  appeal  to  their  faculty 
of  wonder ;  and  as  more  or  less  besotted,  more  or 
less  wedded  to  evil  or  error,  it  needs  to  appeal  to 
their  fears  or  their  self-interest,  and  convince  them 


THE  PLAGUES.  135 

that  if  it  comes  to  a  contest  the  truth  is  stronger 
than  they. 

Wheatstone  or  Faraday  is  not  always  sending 
paper  kites  up  into  the  clouds  or  drawing  sparks 
from  a  coated  phial  in  order  to  convince  himself 
that  electricity  exists.  "  Excuse  me,  my  good 
friend,"  he  would  be  apt  to  say,  "  but  I  am  far  past 
that.  I  not  only  believe  that  the  thing  exists  ; 
but  to  my  mind  it  is  present  everywhere.  It  is  not 
the  jar  alone,  but  this  room  that  is  full  of  it ;  and 
you  need  not  send  up  for  it  to  the  clouds,  for  at  this 
moment  you  and  I  are  under  its  powerful  influence. 
Rather  than  be  repeating  evermore  these  elementary 
experiments,  I  love  to  trace  still  further  its  opera- 
tion, and  meditate  upon  its  laws."  And  yet  he  will 
be  far  from  despising  the  day  of  small  things.  He 
knows  that  in  the  whole  of  this  matter  a  hundred 
years  ago  men  were  as  barbarians  or  as  babes,  and 
that  if  their  feeling  of  wonder  had  not  been  roused, 
if  their  sense  had  not  been  dazzled,  babes  and  bar- 
barians they  must  have  still  remained.  It  was  by 
working  what  may  be  called  scientific  signs  and 
wonders,^it  was  by  drawing  a  flash  of  fire  from  the 
human  body,  it  was  by  drawing  lightning  from  the 
clouds,  that  Dufaye  and  Franklin  waked  the  wonder 
of  the  world,  and  founded  a  new  science ;  and 
therefore  he  looks  back  with  reverence  to  that 
paper  kite   or  Ley  den  jar   as    the   parent   of   the 


13G  SIGNS  AXD  WONDERS — 

electric  telegrapli  and  the  transformer  of  modern 
metallurgy.  Each  of  them  was  a  disturber  or 
interrupter  of  the  course  of  nature  ;  but  without  the 
interruption  they  produced  the  true  course  of 
nature  would  never  have  been  known  :  without  the 
spark  or  flash  which  these  disturbers  elicited,  the 
perpetual  presence  and  the  wondrous  working  of 
the  latent  power  would  never  have  been  surmised. 

So  with  the  signs  and  wonders  which  for  a  mo- 
ment interrupting  the  usual  course  of  Providence, 
made  the  existence  of  that  Providence  more  palpable. 
So  with  the  signs  and  wonders  which  from  time  to 
time  breaking  the  majestic  silence  of  the  Eternal, 
like  a  tocsin  from  the  firmament  have  startled  the 
world's  apathy,  and  at  once  strengthened  faith  and 
confounded  incredulity. 

Standing  as  we  do  on  the  clear  high  vantage  of  a 
completed  Christianity,  it  is  difficult  for  us  to  get 
back  into  the  times  of  ignorance.  Even  amongst 
the  professed  rejecters  of  Eevelation  there  is  a  gene- 
ral admission  of  its  sublimest  truth,  and  few  deny 
the  existence  of  the  one  Supreme  Creator,  infinitely 
wise,  irresistibly  powerful.  But  once  on  a  time  it 
was  very  different.  Egypt  believed  in  its  own  gods, 
and  left  Ethiopia  and  Canaan  free  to  believe  in 
theirs,  and  although  the  children  of  Israel  should 
hajR^e  known  that  the  God  of  Abraham  was  the  one 
true  God,  they  were  not  absolutely  sure.     It  looked 


THE  PLAGUES.  137 

too  like  as  if  Abraham's  God  was  less  kind  or  power- 
ful than  Egypt's  gods ;  and  we  have  reached  that 
most  interesting  and  eventful  period  when  Jehovah 
arose  from  His  place  and  began  to  prove  that  He 
was  not  merely  one  God  among  the  many,  but  that 
there  was  none  besides  the  great  I  am  supreme, 
self-existent,  exclusive  of  every  other. 

The  first  mind  which  it  was  needful  to  satisfy 
was  that  of  Moses  himself.  Possessing  the  know- 
ledge which  we  find  embodied  in  the  Book  of  Genesis, 
we  may  assume  that  his  theology  was  sound.  Be- 
lieving in  that  God  who  created  heaven  and  earth, 
with  whom  Enoch  walked,  who  had  swept  a  crime- 
laden  race  away,  who  had  received  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob  to  their  eternal  homes,  in  the  meditative 
seclusion  of  Horeb  Moses  could  sing  the  90th  Psalm, 
and  could  look  back  with  serene  contempt  on  the 
bull-adorers  and  beetle-worshippers  amongst  whom 
he  had  passed  his  boyhood.  But  the  faith  which 
assures  the  heart  in  calm  retreats  is  not  always 
enough  for  energy  and  action  ;  and  if  tliere  ever  was 
a  man  to  whom  it  must  have  been  a  hardship  to 
quit  the  solitary  place,  with  its  continual  sabbath, 
that  man  was  the  fugitive  from  Pharaoh's  palace, — 
the  meek,  meditative,  unambitious,  world-weary 
Moses.  And  yet  for  God's  great  design  it  was  need- 
ful that  the  recluse  should  be  aroused  and  hurried 
forth  from  his  retirement ;  it  was  needful  that  the 


138  SIGNS  AND  WONDEES — 

hermit  should  be  quickened  up  into  a  hero  ;  and  so 
that  God,  in  whom  he  had  long  believed,  burst  upon 
his  view  in  a  bright  and  startling  manifestation. 
To  Moses  that  burning  bush  was  itself  a  sign,  and 
one  would  have  almost  thought  that  a  Divine  com- 
mission given  from  the  midst  of  the  flaming  miracle 
would  have  insured  instant  compliance.  But  even 
after  other  difficulties  were  dispelled,  an  obstacle 
seemingly  insuperable  occurred  to  Moses  in  the  in- 
credulity of  his  own  countrymen.  "  To  say  nothing 
of  persuading  Pharaoh,  how  shall  I  gain  the  con- 
fidence of  my  own  brethren  ?  They  will  not  believe 
me.  They  will  say,  The  Lord  hath  not  appeared 
unto  thee."  And  so,  to  furnish  him  with  credentials 
to  his  ow^n  countrymen,  just  as  the  burning  bush 
had  been  sign  sufficient  to  himself,  the  Lord  sup- 
plied him  with  three  portable  signs  (so  to  speak), 
and  gave  him  the  power  of  performing  three  pro- 
digies, which  should  be  as  well  adapted  to  the  crass 
and  untutored  minds  of  his  brethren  as  the  beautiful 
sign  of  the  burning  bush  had  been  adapted  to  his 
own.  '  Turn  that  rod  into  a  serpent,  from  a  serpent 
back  into  a  rod  again  ;  draw  thy  hand  from  thy 
bosom;  it  is  leprous;  do  it  again  and  it  is  sound.  And 
change  into  blood  the  water  of  the  Nile  ;  for  if  they 
will  not  believe  thee,  they  will  believe  the  sign,  and 
if  one  sign  fail  a  second  will  succeed.'  And  thus 
fortified,  Moses  set  forth  for  Egypt.  Along  with  Aaron 


THE  PLAGUES.  139 

his  brother,  who,  divinely  directed,  came  forth  to 
meet  him,  he  reached  it  at  a  moment  when  the 
people's  anguish  was  kindled  afresh  by  the  accession 
of  the  new  despot  and  the  infliction  of  further  atro- 
cities. The  brothers  delivered  their  message,  and 
"  did  the  signs  in  the  sight  of  the  people ;  and 
the  people  believed."  Their  deliverers  had  come 
opportune  as  angels  from  heaven,  and  grateful  to 
Abraham's  God,  who  at  last  had  looked  on  their 
affliction,  "they  bowed  their  heads  and  worshipped" 
(Exod.  iv.  29-31). 

A  harder  task  remained.  Moses  and  Aaron  needed 
no  further  sign.  The  burden  of  the  Lord  was  upon 
them,  and  God's  hand  thrust  them  forward.  So  to 
speak,  they  could  not  help  themselves,  and  you  would 
say  it  should  not  have  been  difficult  to  rouse  the 
hopes  of  sighing,  wretched  bondmen.  But  to  beard 
a  tyrant  on  his  throne — to  persuade  a  proud  and 
obstinate  king  to  surrender  two  millions  of  subjects, 
including  the  most  useful  labourers  in  the  land — was 
an  undertaking  sure  to  be  followed  by  discomfiture 
and  personal  destruction,  unless  backed  by  Omni- 
potence and  enforced  by  the  outstretched  arm  of 
Jehovah.  And  therefore  to  stem  and  concuss  into 
submission  the  oppressor  of  Israel  and  the  champion 
of  Egypt's  false  gods — to  avenge  the  wrongs  of  ages 
and  signalize  in  its  commencement  Jehovah's  war 
with  idolatry,  Heaven  opened  its  terrible  artillery, 


140  SIGNS  AND  WONDERS — 

and  with   plague   upon  plague   crushed  down  the 
key-post  of  Paganism,  the  stronghold  of  Egypt. 

On  these  plagues  we  have  no  intention  to  dilate, 
but  we  invite  attention  to  one  or  two  general  re- 
marks regarding  them. 

1.  Pharaoh  threw  down  the  gauntlet.  "Who  is 
Jehovah,  that  I  should  obey  His  voice,  to  let  Israel 
go  ?  I  know  not  Jehovah,  neither  will  I  let  Israel 
go."  Pharaoh  cast  himself  on  the  protection  of  the 
idols  of  Egypt,  and  launched  an  insulting  defiance 
at  the  God  of  Israel.  And  the  first  retort  was  on 
that  idol  which  might  well  be  considered  the  best 
friend  and  greatest  benefactor  of  Egypt,  the  Mle, 
whose  current  was  instantly  converted  into  a  fluid 
so  blood-like  that  its  delicious  waters  were  no  long^er 
drinkable,  and  the  fish  in  which  it  abounded  died. 
In  like  manner,  the  magicians  who  mimicked  the 
earlier  miracles,  who  by  sleight  of  hand  (to  say 
nothing  of  supernatural  assistance)  gave  the  im- 
pression as  if  they  could  do  on  a  small  scale  what 
Moses'  rod  did  over  all  the  land,  these  magicians 
were  driven  off  the  field  when  the  infliction  became 
a  corporeal  malady,  and  personal.  "  The  magicians 
could  not  stand  before  Moses  because  of  the  boils  ; . 
for  the  boil  was  upon  the  magicians,  and  all  the, 
Egyptians." 

2.  A  second  remark  which  we  venture  to  hazard 
is  a  certain  congruity  betwixt  these  supernatural 


THE  PLAGUES.  141 

visitations  and  the  land  on  wliicli  tliey  were  in- 
flicted. Although  the  rapidity  with  which  they 
succeeded  one  another,  although  the  circumstance  of 
their  coming  on  and  departing  whensoever  Moses 
gave  the  word,  and  no  sooner,  although  the  exemp- 
tion of  Goshen  when  the  rest  of  Egypt  was  over- 
whelmed, all  show  the  Hand  Omnipotent  from  which 
they  came,  yet  the  visitations  themselves  were  more 
or  less  characteristic  of  the  country  and  congruous 
to  it.  The  vials  were  inverted  by  an  unseen  Power, 
but  the  channels  in  which  the  vengeance  flowed 
were  the  courses  already  cut  by  phenomena  more 
or  less  familiar  to  the  people.  For  instance,  the 
Nile,  which  this  time,  in  the  beginning  of  the  year, 
flowed  with  blood,  is,  apt  every  June  to  assume  a 
reddish  colour.  Frogs,  with  gnats,  flies,  and  other 
insect  plagues,  are  to  this  day  no  small  source  of 
misery  in  Egypt ;  and  boils  are  of  common  occur- 
rence among  the  people,  and  murrain  among  the 
cattle  ;  and  it  may  help  to  vivify  the  sacred  text  if 
from  the  pages  of  the  Prussian  explorer  Lepsius 
I  give  two  extracts,  detailing  a  hail-storm  and  a 
locust- shower,  as  he  encountered  them  about  the 
close  of  the  year  1842. 

Hail. 

"  Winter  began  with  a  scene  that  will  ever  remain 
impressed  upon  my  memory.     I  had  ridden  out  to 


142  SIGNS  AND  WONDERS — 

the  excavations,  and  as  I  observed  a  great  black 
cloud  coming  up,  I  sent  an  attendant  to  the  tents, 
to  make  them  ready  against  it,  but  soon  followed 
him  myself,  as  it  began  to  rain  a  little.  Shortly  after 
my  arrival  a  storm  began,  and  I  therefore  had  the 
tent-ropes  made  fast ;  soon,  however,  there  came  a 
pouring  rain  that  frightened  all  our  Arabs,  and  sent 
them  trooping  to  the  rock-tomb,  where  our  kitchen 
is  situated.  Of  our  party,  Erbkam  and  Franke  were 
only  present.  Suddenly  the  storm  grew  to  a 
tremendous  hurricane,  such  as  I  have  never  seen 
in  Europe,  and  hail  fell  upon  us  in  such  masses  as 
almost  to  turn  day  into  night.  I  had  the  greatest 
difficulty  in  hunting  our  Arabs  out  from  the  cavern, 
to  bring  our  thins^s  to  the  tombs  under  shelter,  as 
we  might  expect  the  destruction  of  our  tents  at  any 
moment;  and  it  was  no  long  time  ere  first  our 
common  tent  broke  down,  and  then,  as  I  hurried 
from  it  into  my  own,  to  sustain  it  from  the  inside, 
that  also  broke  down  above  my  head.  When  I  had 
crept  out,  I  found  that  my  things  were  tolerably 
well  covered  by  the  tents,  so  that  I  could  leave  them 
for  the  present,  but  only  to  run  a  greater  risk.  Our 
tents  lie  in  a  valley,  whither  the  plateau  of  the 
Pyramids  inclines,  and  are  sheltered  from  the  worst 
winds  from  the  north  and  west.  Presently  I  saw 
a  dashing  mountain  flood  hurrying  down  upon  our 
prostrate  and  sand- covered  tents,  like  a  giant  serpent 


THE  PLAGUES.  143 

upon  its  certain  prey.  The  principal  stream  rolled 
on  to  the  great  tent ;  another  arm  threatened  mine, 
without  quite  reaching  it.  But  everything  that  had 
been  washed  from  our  tents  by  the  shower  was  torn 
away  by  the  two  streams,  which  joined  behind  the 
tents,  and  carried  into  a  pool  behind  the  Sphinx, 
where  a  great  lake  immediately  formed,  which  for- 
tunately had  no  outlet. 

"  Just  picture  the  scene !  Our  tents,  dashed 
down  by  the  storm  and  heavy  rain,  lying  between 
two  mountain  torrents,  thrusting  themselves  in 
several  places  to  the  depth  of  six  feet  into  the  sand, 
and  depositing  our  books,  drawings,  sketches,  clothes, 
and  instruments,  yes,  even  our  levers  and  crowbars  ; 
in  short,  everything  they  could  seize,  in  the  dark, 
foaming,  mud  ocean.  Besides  this,  ourselves  wet  to 
the  skin,  without  hats,  wading  into  the  lake  to  the 
waist  to  fish  out  what  the  sand  had  not  yet  swallowed. 
And  all  this  was  the  work  of  a  quarter  of  an  hour, 
at  the  end  of  which  the  sun  shone  radiantly  again, 
and  announced  the  end  of  this  flood  by  a  bright  and 
glorious  rainbow. 

"For  several  days  we  fished  and  dug  for  our 
things.  Some  things  were  lost,  many  were  spoilt ; 
the  greater  part  of  all  the  things  that  were  not  locked 
up  inside  trunks  or  chests  bore  more  or  fewer  marks 
of  this  flood."  ^ 

1  Lepsius's  Discoveries  in  Egypt,  pp.  27-29. 


144  SIGNS  AND  WONDERS — 


Locust  Storm. 


"  I  had  descended  into  a  mummy-pit,  to  open  some 
newly-discovered  sarcophagi,  and  was  not  a  little 
astonished  to  find  myself  in  a  regular  snow-drift  of 
locusts,  which,  almost  darkening  the  heavens,  flew 
over  our  heads  from  the  south-west  from  the  desert 
in  hundreds  of  thousands  to  the  valley.  I  took  it 
for  a  single  flight,  and  called  my  companions  from 
the  tombs,  that  they  might  see  this  Egyptian  wonder 
ere  it  was  over.  But  the  flight  continued ;  in- 
deed, the  work-people  said  it  had  begun  an  hour 
before.  Then  we  first  observed  that  the  whole 
region,  far  and  near,  was  covered  with  locusts.  I 
sent  an  attendant  into  the  desert,  to  discover  the 
breadth  of  the  swarm.  He  ran  for  the  distance  of  a 
quarter  of  an  hour,  then  returned  and  told  us  that, 
as  far  as  he  could  see,  there  was  no  end  to  them. 
I  rode  home  in  the  midst  of  the  locust-showier. 
At  the  edge  of  the  fruitful  plain  they  fell  down  in 
showers,  and  so  it  went  on  the  whole  day  till  the 
evening,  and  so  the  next  day  from  morning  to  even- 
ing, and  the  third  ;  in  short,  to  the  sixth  day,  and 
in  weaker  flights  much  longer.  The  Arabs  are  now 
lighting  great  fires  of  smoke  in  the  fields,  and 
clattering  and  making  loud  noises  all  day  long,  to 
preserve  their  crops  from  the  unexpected  invasion. 


THE  PLAGUES.  145 

It  will,  however,  do  little  good.  Like  a  new  ani- 
mated vegetation,  these  millions  of  winged  spoilers 
cover  even  the  neighbouring  sandhills,  so  that 
scarcely  anything  is  to  be  seen  of  the  ground ;  and 
when  they  rise  from  one  place,  they  immediately 
fall  down  somewhere  in  the  neighbourhood ;  they 
are  tired  with  their  long  journey,  and  seem  to  have 
lost  aU  fear  of  their  natural  enemies — men,  animals, 
smoke,  and  noise — in  their  furious  wish  to  fill  their 
stomachs,  and  in  the  feeling  of  their  immense 
number.  The  most  wonderful  thing,  in  my  esti- 
mation, is  their  flight  over  the  naked  wilderness, 
and  the  instinct  which  has  guided  them  from  some 
oasis  over  the  inhospitable  desert  to  the  fat  soil  of 
the  Nile  vale."  ^ 

To  this  land  of  locusts  and  hail-storms,  of  epi- 
demic boils  and  disastrous  murrain,  the  warnings  of 
Moses  were  abundantly  intelligible.  They  were  not 
threatened  with  an  unknown  visitation,  but  were 
in  the  predicament  of  a  land  like  Britain,  if,  in  the 
course  of  a  short  year  or  so,  we  were  forewarned  of 
nine  such  plagues  as  a  frost  in  June,  a  potato-blight, 
the  Hessian  fly,  the  cholera.  "When  they  were  fore- 
told, we  could  have  no  difficulty  in  understanding 
what  was  threatened,  and  when  they  came  on  the 
predicted  day,  and  on  the  predicted  day  when  such 
of  them  as  could  go  away  departed,  we  should  have 

^  Lepsius's  Discoveries,  pp.  49,  50. 
K 


146  SIGNS  AND  WONDERS — 

no   difficulty  in    identifying   tliem  as   God's   own 
messengers. 

3.  Whilst,  however,  the  plagues  were  of  a  kind 
to  demonstrate  conclusively  the  superiority  of 
Jehovah  and  His  commissioned  messengers  over 
the  idols  and  their  ministers,  they  were  so  con- 
ducted as  to  leave  Pharaoh  a  free  agent  all  through- 
out. He  was  not  put  on  the  actual  rack  or  held 
over  a  slow  fire  till  his  cruel  hand  relaxed  and 
let  the  Hebrew  bondmen  go.  The  appeal  was 
loud,  and  each  time  that  it  was  repeated  he  and 
his  people  were  shaken  more  severely  than  before  ; 
but  after  every  demand  there  was  a  respite,  a  pause, 
an  opportunity  to  ponder,  and  either  yield  the 
point  or  recall  a  past  concession.  During  that 
reprieve  or  lull,  nine  times  repeated,  the  result  was 
uniform  :  "  The  heart  of  Pharaoh  was  hardened  ;" 
he  turned  on  his  hapless  serfs  as  savage,  and 
scowled  on  their  mysterious  Protector  as  sullen  and 
defiant  as  before.  And  whilst  we  are  so  far  ad- 
mitted into  the  painful  secret,  whilst  "  the  Scrip- 
ture saith  unto  Pharaoh,  Even  for  this  same  purpose 
have  I  raised  thee  up,  that  I  might  show  my  power 
in  thee,  and  that  my  name  might  be  declared 
through  all  the  earth,"  so  that  "God  hath  mercy 
on  whom  he  will  have  mercy,  and  whom  he  will  he 
hardeneth,"  we  can  so  far  understand  how  naturally, 
in  a  proud  and  imperious  mind,  the  process  went 


THE  PLAGUES.  147 

on,  and  how  truly  it  may  also  be  said,  "  Pharaoh 
hardened  his  own  heart." 

For,  first  of  all,  there  was  always  time  for  doing 
it.  Except  on  the  last  occasion,  when  the  Israelites 
stood  marshalled  and  ready  to  move  off  amidst  the 
amazement  and  anguish  consequent  on  the  death 
of  the  first-born, — except  on  that  last  occasion  the 
Israelites  were  never  ready  to  take  Pharaoh  at  his 
word ;  but  if  he  made  some  small  concession  over- 
night, he  was  able  to  recall  it  in  the  morning.  And 
who  will  deny  that  he  was  strongly  tempted  ?  To 
let  his  own  vassals  go — to  create  a  gap  so  instan- 
taneous and  so  wide  in  his  kingdom's  industry  ;  to 
part  with  the  best  bone  and  sinew  of  the  realm,  was 
no  small  sacrifice.  And  then  the  humiliation  :  to 
have  that  son  of  a  slave  glorying  over  him,  to 
receive  the  dictation  of  that  runagate  ;  to  let  Apir 
and  Osiris  bow  before  the  Hebrews'  God,  what 
would  Mmrod  and  his  Ethiopian  neighbours  say? 
Besides,  what  if  all  this  time  he  was  under  some 
frightful  spell,  some  horrible  sorcery  or  glamour? 
Assuredly  there  was  something  very  startling  in  the 
swift  succession  of  so  many  plagues,  and  the  God 
of  Israel  must  have  great  power  to  send  them,  and 
to  enable  his  servant  to  predict  them.  But  perhaps 
the  gods  of  Egypt  would  triumph  yet.  It  seemed 
as  if  they  too  could  turn  water  into  blood  and  a 
walking-stick  into  a  serpent ;   and  they  might  yet 


148  SIGNS  AND  WONDERS — 

enable  their  votary  and  champion  to  hold  his  own 
and  avenge  these  insults.  And  so,  for  as  often  as 
he  was  reproved,  Pharaoh  still  hardened  his  neck, 
until  he  was  suddenly  cut  off,  and  that  without 
remedy. 

Such  is  still  the  method  of  God's  procedure.  No 
force  is  laid  on  the  human  will,  yet  some  are  allowed 
to  harden  themselves,  whilst  others  are  mercifully 
constrained  to  have  mercy  on  themselves  and  flee  to 
the  Saviour  of  souls. 

The  process  is  insidious, — the  self-hardening  one 
I  mean.  God  often  reproves.  He  gave  Pharaoh 
ten  times  a  place  of  repentance,  but  the  hard  man 
persisted,  and  was  likely  hoping  still  to  escape 
when  he  was  suddenly  cut  off,  and  that  without 
remedy. 

A  man  begins  a  course  of  dishonesty.  Living 
beyond  his  income,  he  must  accommodate  himself 
with  money  passing  through  his  hands ;  but  the 
income  of  next  year  does  not  fill  up  the  deficit,  and 
as  the  discrepancy  has  been  so  dexterously  con- 
cealed as  to  elicit  no  inquiry,  he  goes  on  and  on 
peculating  and  appropriating  and  purloining.  And 
God  goes  on  reproving.  He  takes  the  man  to 
church,  where  he  hears  a  sermon  on  the  text  "  Thou 
shalt  not  steal ; "  but  the  embezzling  goes  on.  He 
takes  him  to  a  court  of  justice,  and  lets  him  listen 
to  a  dreadful  case,  the  facsimile  of  his  own  where 


THE  PLAGUES.  149 

from  respectability  and  seeming  affluence  the  delin- 
quent is  hurled  down  to  the  shame  and  wretchedness 
of  convicted  felony,  and  under  this  painful  homily 
on  righteousness  and  judgment  to  come  Felix 
trembles ;  but  after  a  few  days  the  work  of  appro- 
priation is  once  more  resumed.  And  then  to  remind 
him  that  an  eye  is  on  him,  his  merciful  Eeprover 
elicits  from  some  one's  lips  a  sentence  which  greatly 
startles  him.  The  cold  sweat  breaks,  his  face  is 
ashes,  and  from  the  ominous  allusion  he  fancies 
himself  found  out.  But  by  and  bye  he  finds  that  he 
was  wrong,  and  emboldened  by  impunity,  as  if  it 
gave  an  actual  sanction  to  his  crime,  he  launches 
out  more  largely  and  with  increasing  confidence,  till 
some  evening  from  the  heart  of  a  ruined  home,  and 
the  unavailing  grasp  of  affection  shrieking  forth  its 
agony,  he  is  hurried  off  to  the  trial  which  ends  in  a 
felon's  doom  and  a  convict's  infamy. 

Or  the  social  glass  has  grown  into  the  cup  which 
does  inebriate,  and  the  misfortune  is  none  the  less 
because  the  sin  is  great ;  and  in  great  mercy  God's 
Word  and  Spirit  and  Providence  for  a  long  time 
reprove.  If  you  don't  put  in  the  pin,  says  the 
doctor,  I  won't  answer  for  the  consequences.  If 
you  don't  reform,  says  his  employer,  next  term  we 
part  company.  If  you  don't  repent,  says  God,  you 
shall  perish.  And  there  is  not  only  remonstrance 
but  reproof.     One  night  he  comes  home  and  finds 


150  SIGNS  AND  WONDERS — 

that  he  has  been  robbed  in  the  tavern  or  on  the 
road  from  it  of  his  quarter's  salary.  "  Ah  !  that 
comes  of  my  drinking."  Another  day  he  wakes  up 
in  a  public  hospital,  and  sees  his  miry  garments 
hanging  by  the  bedside,  whilst  they  are  applying 
iced  lotions  to  his  temples.  "  How  came  I  here  ?  " 
And  when  he  hears  that  he  was  picked  off  the  pave- 
ment with  a  threatened  fit,  "  Ah  !  that  too  comes  of 
drinking.  I  must  really  take  the  pledge."  But  for 
as  often  as  he  has  been  reproved,  no  sooner  is  he 
well  than  his  spirit  again  is  hardened,  and  reeling 
home  in  the  moonlight  beside  the  canal,  the  police- 
man hears  a  plunge,  and  he  himself  feels  a  momen- 
tary shock,  and  then  opens  his  eyes, — not  in  the 
hospital, — not  in  his  own  home, — not  even  amongst 
the  fumes  of  the  tap-room, — but  where  there  is  no 
more  place  for  repentance,  and  where  for  reproof 
habitually  resisted  there  remains  no  remedy. 
,  Pharaoh  ten  times  reproved,  yet  always  persisting, 
— Pharaoh  repeatedly  subdued,  yet  once  more  rebel- 
ling,— Pharaoh  humbling  himself  one  day  under  the 
mighty  hand  of  God,  and  another  day  cut  off  in 
fierce  conflict  with  Jehovah,  stands  forth  to  all 
time  a  glaring  example.  It  tells  how  resolute  and 
resilient  is  the  stout  heart  of  the  sinner, — how,  like 
a  deceitful  bow,  when  the  pressure  is  withdrawn,  it 
will  bound  back  again.  And  it  tells  how  guilty  is 
the  war  and  how  bootless  will  be  the  battle  with 


THE  PLAGUES.  151 

Omnipotence.  Oh,  brethren,  may  there  be  found 
amongst  us  no  self-hardening  Pharaoh, — none  quit- 
ting the  parental  roof,  or  Sabbath  after  Sabbath 
retiring  from  the  sanctuary  with  a  heart  still  joined 
to  his  idols,  and  determined  not  yet  to  forsake  his 
sins.  What  will  you  do  in  the  day  when  God  con- 
tends with  you  ?  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  fall  into 
His  hands,  and  who  ever  hardened  himself  against 
Jehovah  and  prospered  ? 


IX. 

'•  Through  faith  he  kept  the  passover,  and  the  sprinlding  of  blood, 
lest  he  that  destroyed  the  first-bom  should  touch  them." — Heb. 
XI.  28. 

The  ninth  plague  of  Egypt  was  a  deluge  of  dark- 
ness. Neither  an  eclipse  of  the  sun,  nor  like 
anything  to  which  the  people  were  accustomed,  it 
lasted  three  days,  and  was  so  dense  that  not  only 
was  labour  arrested  but  men  could  not  venture 
forth  from  their  dwellings.  A  "  thick  darkness,"  a 
"  darkness  that  might  be  felt,"  coming  over  a  land 
so  serene  and  so  sunny,  it  was  an  ominous  and 
appalling  visitation,  and  might  almost  make  them 
think  that  the  end  of  the  world  had  arrived. 
Whatsoever  might  be  the  secondary  causes  em- 
ployed for  its  production,  the  language  would 
imply  that  artificial  lights  were  of  little  avail,  and 
that  social  intercourse  and  ordinary  occupation 
were  generally  arrested  beneath  the  murky  inunda- 
tion. And  beyond  many  of  its  predecessors  this 
judgment  seems  to  have  shaken  Pharaoh  and  his 
subjects.     Their  god,  the  sun,  was  frowning — or,  in 

152 


THE  PASSOVEE.  153 

the  grasp  of  some  mightier  divinity,  he  was  over- 
powered and  unable  to  help  his  worshippers. 
Goshen  excepted,  all  Egypt  was  under  a  funeral 
pall,  and,  over  and  above  its  actual  discomfort,  it 
filled  superstitious  minds  with  dread  as  foreshadow- 
ing some  dismal  catastrophe. 

Pharaoh  was  effectually  frightened,  but  there  was 
no  change  in  his  feelings  towards  either  Israel  or 
Israel's  God ;  and  therefore  as  soon  as  the  murky 
flood  subsided,  as  soon  as  the  darkness  palpable 
had  rolled  away,  his  spirits  rose  again,  and  he  pro- 
posed a  compromise.  The  original  demand  had 
been,  "  Let  my  people  go,  that  they  may  hold  a 
feast  unto  me  in  the  wilderness,"-^  and  now  he 
offered  to  let  the  people  go,  but  as  a  pledge  for 
their  return  they  must  leave  in  Egypt  their  posses- 
sions. Terms  like  these  could  not  for  a  moment  be 
entertained,  and  finding  Moses  still  insist  on  an 
absolute  and  unconditional  outgoing,  Pharaoh  flew 
into  a  passion.  "  Begone  !  Take  care  that  I  never 
see  thy  face  again  :  for  in  the  day  that  thou  seest 
my  face  again  thou  shalt  die." 

Terror  may  be  a  powerful  taskmaster,  but  some- 
thing else  is  needful  to  renew  the  heart  and 
transform  the  affections.  As  he  lay  in  his  palace 
during  those  days  of  darkness  Pharaoh  got  time  for 
reflection ;    and   even   if  he   refused    to   think   of 

1  Exodus  V.  2. 


154  THE  PASSOVEE. 

Israel's  rights  and  of  the  cruelties  inflicted  on  them 
by  himself  and  his  predecessors,  there  could  be  no 
question  that  there  had  come  to  their  rescue  a 
powerful  protector.  This  Jehovah  was  mighty  in 
battle,  and  in  nine  successive  encounters  he  had 
discomfited  Thoth  and  Phrah,  Isis  and  Osiris,  the 
time-honoured  guardians  of  Egypt,  and  had  put 
shame  on  those  great  idols  the  sun  and  the  river 
Mle.  Pharaoh  for  the  instant  felt  powerless  in  the 
hand  of  this  unknown  God,  so  awful  and  irresis- 
tible, and  inwardly  vowed  that  as  soon  as  the  pre- 
sent visitation  ended  he  would  make  peace  with 
Him  by  giving  up  the  point  at  issue.  But  the 
visitation  ceased,  and  along  with  it  much  of  his 
consternation  vanished.  Here,  on  the  fourth  morn- 
ing, the  sun  shone  out  so  clear,  and  through  the 
translucent  margin  the  water-lilies  looked  up  into 
the  sky  which  reflected  its  unclouded  mirror  under 
them.  Of  such  a  pitchy  night  it  was  wonderful  that 
no  trace  remained  :  the  river  was  not  ink,  the 
blossoms  were  not  black,  and  as  the  tramp  of  foot- 
guards  crushed  the  open  court,  as  barges  went 
flashing  up  the  stream,  and  the  gay  life  of  Memphis 
fluttered  forth  like  the  phantoms  of  a  dream,  the 
fears  and  vows  of  the  monarch  fled  away,  and  he 
had  courage  to  put  Moses  off  with  a  poor  and  pitiful 
concession. 

Who  knows  it  not  ?     On  the  stormy  lake,  pale 


THE  PASSOVER.  155 

as  ashes,  Volney  drops  on  his  knees  and  cries, 
"  Christ,  save  me  !  0  Christ,  have  mercy  upon 
me ! "  and  when  the  storm  is  over  and  they  are  safe 
on  shore,  he  begs  his  friends  not  to  reveal  his 
weakness.  Detected  in  a  deed  of  dishonesty  which 
he  declares  to  be  his  very  first — for  there  never  was 
a  thief  who  was  not  a  liar  also — the  purloiner  calls 
Heaven  to  witness  that  if  you  will  only  let  him  off 
this  once,  he  will  hereafter  rather  starve  than 
steal ;  and  six  months  afterwards  he  is  at  the  bar 
of  the  Old  Bailey.  Laid  on  a  bed  of  sickness  the 
toper  is  plainly  told  how  urgent  is  his  case,  and  how 
many  are  the  chances  against  him,  "Oh,  dear 
doctor,  if  you  will  only  set  me  on  my  feet  this 
once,  I  give  you  my  solemn  word,  I  never  taste 
another  drop,"  and  the  vow  is  kept  till  he  is  pro- 
nounced past  danger.  In  imminent  alarm — with 
lying  refuges  swept  away — like  Pharaoh  in  the 
dark  left  all  alone  with  Israel's  God,  you  have  seen 
the  folly  of  a  godless  life  and  the  terribleness  of 
unprepared  death,  and  have  promised  and  protested 
that  as  soon  as  this  crisis  was  over  you  would 
make  God's  friendship  your  first  effort  and  His 
service  your  chief  concern.  But  if  it  be  a  yew- 
tree  staff,  as  soon  as  the  pressure  is  taken  off  it  will 
start  up  straight  as  ever;  and  if  it  be  the  same 
proud,  self-sufficient,  self-indulgent  nature  as  before, 
it   may  bend   for    a  moment  beneath  the  mighty 


156  THE  PASSOVER. 

hand  of  God,  but  like  a  deceitful  bow  rebounding 
is  sure  to  turn  back  erect  and  stiff  as  ever. 

The  milder  warning  was  thrown  away,  and  now 
the  great  woe  was  coming.  God's  ambassador  had 
been  dismissed.  Under  pain  of  death  Moses  had 
been  ordered  from  the  presence-chamber;  and  to 
the  rude  rebuff,  "  Let  me  see  thy  face  no  more,"  with 
the  ominous  dignity  of  one  who  knew  his  Master's 
might,  Moses  answered,  "  Thou  hast  spoken  well : 
I  will  see  thy  face  no  more."  And  returning  to 
his  Master,  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  "  Yet  will  I 
bring  one  plague  more  upon  Pharaoh  and  upon 
Egjrpt :  after  that  he  shall  not  only  let  you  go,  but 
shall  thrust  you  out  altogether." 

This  plague  was  so  terrible  that  even  at  this 
distance  it  is  awful  to  survey.  By  making  men 
courageous  the  gospel  makes  them  less  cruel,  and 
whilst  it  has  braced  up  men's  energies  it  has  also 
softened  their  spirits,  so  that  much  as  we  may  enjoy 
feats  of  prowess,  the  excitement  of  conflict,  the 
exultation  of  victory,  we  turn  away  from  the  de- 
vastation and  carnage  with  which  they  are  pur- 
chased. The  naked  announcement  that  in  a  single 
night  a  whole  nation  was  plunged  into  mourning, 
every  family  bewailing  its  eldest  son,  looked  at 
alone  and  dissevered  from  the  facts  might  well 
afflict  our  feelings.  But  we  must  remember  the 
actual  facts.     "  Vengeance  is  mine,  saith  the  Lord, 


THE  PASSOVER.  -157 

I  will  repay."  Towards  the  Israelites  the  Egyptians 
had  for  long  behaved  so  cruelly  that,  if  suffering 
could  be  weighed  or  measured,  we  might  safely  aver 
that  Israel's  slow  centuries  of  endurance  were  feebly 
countervailed  by  Egypt's  night  of  anguish.  Who 
can  tell  the  protracted  misery — the  misery  of  a 
high-spirited  free-roaming  people  who  had  been 
entrapped  into  sudden  slavery  ?  and  what  bottle 
but  God's  own  could  contain  the  tears  of  the 
broken-hearted  bondmen,  the  tears  of  families 
torn  asunder,  the  tears  of  hapless  mothers  entreat- 
ing the  stony-hearted  rufi&ans  not  to  hurl  into  the 
stream  the  babe  snatched  from  their  bosom,  the 
tears  of  trampled  abjects  who  saw  their  dearest 
kindred  faint  beneath  their  burdens  or  knocked 
down  by  savage  overseers,  and  who  dared  not 
remonstrate  or  complain  ?  And  every  one  must  be 
addressed  in  the  language  he  understands.  The 
tiger  which  has  grasped  your  child — 'tis  no  use  to 
coax  or  flatter — it  is  only  the  flaming  fagot  you 
thrust  into  his  face  which  makes  him  howl  and 
drop  his  victim  in  the  shock  of  sudden  pain. 
"  Israel  is  my  first-born,"  said  God — "  let  Israel  my 
people  go."  But  the  lion  only  snarled,  and  even 
blow  after  blow  made  him  only  bite  the  firmer  and 
make  the  bondage  sorer  :  till  an  arm  of  fire  gleamed 
through  the  night  and  "  a  great  cry  "  confessed  the 
burning  blow,  as  the  victim  dropped  from  his  gory 


iUb  THE  PASSOVER. 

jaws  bruised  and  palpitating,  but   still   alive  and 

FREE. 

It  was  destined  to  prove  "  a  niglit  much  to  be 
remembered;"  and,  with  a  deliberateness  and  fore- 
thought truly  divine,  means  were  taken  to  engraft 
upon  it  a  lesson  of  primary  importance,  and  a  cele- 
bration which  should  never  be  forgotten.  This  was 
to  be  the  birth -night  of  Hebrew  nationality,  and  it 
was  to  be  further  distinguished  by  a  notable  addition 
to  the  existing  stock  of  revealed  religion.  Just  as 
on  the  eve  of  the  great  event  in  human  history,  the 
Lord  Jesus,  in  the  fulness  of  His  foreknowledge, 
instituted  a  Feast  which  should  be  at  once  comme- 
morative and  symbolic,  so  on  the  eve  of  the  great 
event  in  Hebrew  history,  the  Most  High  instituted 
a  rite,  at  once  a  record  of  that  fact  and  a  revelation 
of  God's  great  scheme  of  mercy.  In  each  the  fact 
and  the  practical  lesson  are  indissolubly  intertwined. 
In  the  Feast  of  the  Passover,  the  Hebrew  could  not 
recall  the  outstanding  incident  in  his  nation's  history 
without  at  the  same  time  rehearsing,  as  in  a  sacred 
pantomime,  those  outstanding  facts — a  danger  to  be 
dreaded,  and  the  blood  of  God's  appointed  sacrifice, 
as  the  sole  protection  from  that  danger.  In  the 
Feast  of  the  Eucharist,  the  Christian  cannot  recall 
the  overmastering  incident  in  the  annals  of  our 
world — the  sacrifice  for  its  sins  which  love  incarnate 
offered — without  also  exhibiting  in  a  brief  but  affect- 


THE  PASSOVER.  159 

ing  drama  the  life  wliich  comes  through  that  death, 
and  the  close  and  friendly  relation  which  exists 
between  every  believer  and  that  immortal  "  lover 
of  our  unworthy  race." 

When  the  other  plagues  swept  over  Egypt,  the 
land  of  Goshen  was  specially  exempted ;  but  now 
that  this  final  judgment  was  about  to  fall,  the  pre- 
servation of  the  Israelites,  whether  in  Goshen  or  else- 
where, was  specially  provided  for ;  and  the  safety  of 
every  one  was  guaranteed  who  obeyed  the  Divine 
appointment  and  took  advantage  of  God's  own  ordi- 
nance. For  the  time,  every  head  of  a  household 
was  exalted  into  a  priest,  and  was  directed  to  take 
a  lamb  and  keep  it  up  from  the  tenth  day  of  the 
month  till  the  fourteenth.  On  the  fourteenth,  in  the 
evening,  the  lamb  was  to  be  slain,  and  its  blood  was 
to  be  sprinkled  on  the  side-posts  and  lintel  of  the 
dwelling  :  "  For  I  will  pass  through  the  land  of 
Egypt  that  night,  and  will  smite  all  the  first-born 
in  the  land  of  Egypt,  both  man  and  beast;  and 
against  all  the  gods  of  Egypt  I  will  execute  judg- 
ment :  I  am  the  Lord.  And  the  blood  shall  be  to 
you  for  a  token  upon  the  houses  where  ye  are  :  and 
when  I  see  the  blood,  I  will  pass  over  you,  and  the 
plague  shall  not  be  upon  you  to  destroy  you,  when 
I  smite  the  land  of  Egypt." 

Now,  what  was  the  principle  in  this  procedure  ? 
Death  was  to  be  abroad  that  night,  but  death  is  the 


160  THE  PASSOVER. 

satellite  or  pursuivant  of  sin ;  and  on  the  ground  of 
their  personal  worth,  their  actual  innocence,  the 
Hebrews  could  count  on  exemption  no  more  than 
the  Egyptians.  But  if  sin's  wages  be  death,  with 
God  there  is  also  forgiveness — forgiveness  founded 
on  sacrifice ;  and  so  to  Israel  God  sent  a  message. 
He  told  them  that  the  Destroyer  would  take  his 
flight  over  all  the  land,  but  if  they  would  only  do 
as  He  directed  they  need  fear  no  evil,  for  the  plague 
would  not  come  nigh  their  dwellings. 

And  so  "  by  faith  they  kept  the  passover."  They 
did  not  speculate  nor  argue  ;  they  did  not  say,  "  If 
a  plague  is  coming  it  will  be  far  more  sensible  to 
lay  in  a  store  of  medicine ;  we  should  fumigate  our 
houses ;  we  should  provide  the  most  approved  speci- 
fics ;  or,  if  an  actual  angel  is  to  inflict  the  stroke,  he 
will  be  able  to  distinguish  us  without  so  much  ado. 
A  few  Hebrew  letters  on  the  door — a  dash  of  red 
paint  on  the  Lintel,  might  answer  all  the  purpose ; 
but  why  insist  on  sacrifice  ?  Why  lay  such  strees 
on  the  blood  of  the  slain  lamb  ?"  We  do  not  read 
that  any  were  so  foolish.  When  Moses  told  the 
impending  plague,  and  announced  the  means  of 
preservation,  *'  the  people  bowed  the  head  and  wor- 
shipped." They  believed  that  a  vial  of  vengeance 
was  about  to  burst  upon  a  sinful  land,  and  they  not 
only  entered  into  their  chambers,  but  shed  the  blood 
of  the  expiating  victim,  and  hung  out  over  every 


THE  TASSOVER.  161 

threshold  the  symbol  at  once  of  confession  and  de- 
precation,— the  crimson  sign  which  betokened  their 
faith  in  God's  mercy  and  their  compliance  with 
God's  command. 

So  "  Christ  our  passover  is  sacrificed  for  us." 
He  is  the  Lamb  of  God  slain  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world — the  Divine  and  prospective  victim 
who  gave  to  all  lesser  sacrifices  their  meaning  and 
their  value.  Little  is  the  pleasure  which  God  has 
in  inflicting  pain.  Small  is  His  delight  in  the  death 
of  him  that  dieth ;  but  where  there  is  evil  there 
must  be  pain — where  there  is  transgression  there 
must  be  penalty — where  sin  exists  death  must  fol- 
low. But  so  marvellous  is  God's  mercy,  He  himself 
comes  in  between  sin  and  its  consequences.  Eather 
than  that  the  sinner  should  perish,  He  has  HimseK 
encountered  the  penalty,  and  in  order  to  become  the 
pain-bearer,  the  death-endurer,  the  mystery  of  godli- 
ness was  consummated,  and  God  manifest  in  flesh 
offered  Himself  a  sacrifice  for  sin,  and  was  then 
received  up  into  glory  again. 

The  blood  shed  on  that  great  occasion  is  of  in- 
finite value  and  of  ever- during  eflicacy  ;  for  it  is  the 
blood  of  God's  own  Son — that  Lamb  or  Sacrifice  of 
God  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world,  and 
which  speaketh  better  things  than  the  blood  of 
Abel,  for  it  cries  not  for  vengeance  but  for  mercy ; 
it  proclaims  not  a  crime  committed  but  a  penalty 

L 


162  THE  PASSOVER. 

exhausted,  and  shows  its  power  not  in  hounding  the 
perpetrator  from  land  to  land,  but  in  pacifying  his 
conscience  and  giving  it  a  good  answer  towards 
God. 

Christ  our  passover  is  sacrificed  for  us,  and  the 
case  of  Israel  may  help  us  to  understand  how  we 
are  to  derive  the  benefit.  They  had  faith  in  God, 
and  did  as  God  directed.  Though  it  seemed  a  bold 
thing  to  do,  each  head  of  a  household  for  the  time 
being  became  a  priest.  It  did  not  matter  what  a 
clown  he  might  be,  what  a  coarse,  what  a  sinful 
life  up  to  that  period  he  had  been  leading ;  it  was 
now  an  affair  of  life  or  death,  and  if  he  did  not 
wish  death  to  enter  his  dwelling,  on  the  head  of  the 
unblemished  lamb  he  must  lay  his  unused  hands, 
and  as  a  priest  must  present  the  offering.  And  all 
the  rather  because  our  hands  are  so  impure,  we 
need  to  lay  them  on  the  Lamb  of  God,  and  over  the 
head  of  that  great  propitiation  confess  our  sin  and 
our  death-worthiness  ;  and  although  a  priestly  act, 
it  is  not  presumptuous  ;  for  He  himself  hath  made 
us  kings  and  priests  to  His  Father,  entitled  to  pre- 
sent as  ours  His  one  oblation,  and  to  ask  the  bless- 
ings which  it  bought.  And  although  there  is  no 
literal  refuge  into  which  we  can  retire,  and  there 
hide  us  till  this  night  of  danger  end,  and  the  morn- 
ing of  the  great  deliverance  dawn,  "  the  name  of  the 
Lord  is  a  strong  tower  :  the  righteous  runneth  into  it 


THE  PASSOVER.  163 

and  is  safe ;"  the  promises  of  God,  the  perfections  of 
the  infinite  and  immutable  I  AM,  are  a  secure  retreat 
to  those  who  know  and  trust  them.  And  although 
there  is  no  literal  blood  which  we  can  sprinkle, 
we  know  the  fact  that  precious  blood  was  once 
shed  for  the  sins  of  many  ;  and  if  we  are  satisfied 
with  this  divinely- appointed  method  of  escape ;  if 
for  protection  from  coming  wrath  our  sole  depend- 
ence is  the  blood  of  Christ,  the  doom  threatening  a 
Christless  world  will  pass  over  us,  and  emerging  to 
that  joyful  awful  morrow  where  on  the  one  side 
all  is  gladness,  on  the  other  all  is  weeping  and 
wailing,  we  shall  join  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord 
in  that  final  exodus — in  the  escape  of  the  redeemed 
from  earth's  darkness  and  the  bondage  of  corrup- 
tion. 

The  p^'inciple  on  which  the  Passover  was  grounded 
we  have  endeavoured  to  explain ;  but  I  ought  to 
add  that  the  preservation  of  any  given  Israelite 
depended  not  so  much  on  his  understanding  the 
principle  as  on  his  actually  employing  the  divinely- 
appointed  expedient.  And  so  I  am  bound  to  add, 
in  the  still  more  momentous  matter  of  personal 
salvation,  it  is  not  the  extent  of  our  knowledge  that 
will  save  us,  but  the  simplicity  with  which  we 
receive  what  God  reveals,  and  do  what  God  desires. 
We  might  fancy  some  intelligent  Israelite  saying, 
after  hearing  the  message  of  Moses,  "  AVell,  it  is  an 


IG-i  THE  PASSOVER. 

admirable  provision.  The  observance  prescribed  is 
deeply  significant,  and  it  is  in  wonderful  congruity 
with  the  whole  course  of  the  Divine  procedure  ;" 
but  if  he  neglected  to  adopt  it  for  himself,  his 
theology  would  not  save  him.  Whereas  we  could 
equally  imagine  some  plain  unlettered  labourer, 
some  guileless  Israelite,  who,  listening  to  the  mes- 
sage, understood  no  more  than  what  merely  met  the 
ear,  saying,  "  A  great  desolation  is  to  sweep  the  land 
this  night,  and  if  you  wish  to  escape,  you  will  sacrifice 
a  lamb  and  sprinkle  on  your  posts  and  lintel  its 
blood,"  we  could  imagine  him  comprehending  little 
more  than  the  plain  warning  and  equally  plain  pre- 
scription ;  but  believing  what  was  spoken,  his  faith 
would  save  him.  "  By  faith,  keeping  the  passover 
and  sprinkling  the  blood,  he  that  destroyed  the  first- 
born would  not  so  much  as  touch  him." 

And  so  it  is  very  important  for  us  to  remember 
that  it  is  neither  the  extent  of  our  erudition,  nor 
the  vividness  of  our  fancy,  nor  the  grasp  of  our 
philosophy,  that  'svill  save  us,  but  the  readiness  with 
which  we  fall  in  with  God's  requirement  and  do 
as  He  directs  us.  And  happily  for  us  His  direc- 
tions are  exceedingly  plain.  Christ  is  set  forth  as 
a  propitiation  for  sin,  and  all  receive  remission  who 
have  faith  in  His  blood.  Wherever  there  is  a  child 
of  Adam  there  is  guilt,  and  there  the  sword  of  the 
Destroyer  should  come  down  ;    but  wherever  the 


THE  passoyi-:e.  165 

blood  of  Christ  is  put  forward  as  the  piaciilum  or 
plea,  there  is  pardon,  there  is  protection,  there  the 
destroying  angel  passes  by.  And  it  is  neither  be- 
cause he  is  a  saint  who  hangs  out  the  crimson  sign, 
nor  because  it  is  a  strong  tower  or  a  stately  palace 
in  which  he  dwells,  but  because  God  recognises  the 
appointed  token  that  He  passes  over,  and  says  to 
the  believer  "  Live." 

My  friends,  suffer  me  to  ask  how  it  stands  with 
you  ?  I  can  quite  imagine  that  some  are  a  little 
tired  of  frequent  iteration,  and  would  be  glad  if  we 
went  on  from  these  first  rudiments  ;  and  perhaps 
in  a  stated  pastorate  we  should.  But  yet  what 
should  be  better  news  to  those  who  are  sinning 
every  week  than  the  gospel  of  forgiveness  ?  or  with 
all  the  wrath  which  God  has  revealed  against  un- 
righteousness, what  hint  can  be  more  opportune, 
what  exhortation  should  be  more  urgent  than,  "  Get 
within,  keep  within,  your  blood-protected  refuge"  ? 
My  hearer,  are  you  there  ?  It  is  only  on  such  that 
the  morning  of  eternity  will  arise  bright  and  glad- 
some, and  it  is  only  there  that  you  can  even  now 
dwell  with  any  reasonable  sense  of  security.  What 
right  have  you  to  be  clieerful  whose  sins  are  not 
yet  forgiven,  and  who  have  not  yet  got  your  sen- 
tence of  condemnation  cancelled  ?  How  can  you 
be  merry  who,  like  an  Egyptian,  like  a  mere  infidel, 
are  going  to  lie  down  this  night,  and  going  to  lie 


166  THE  PASSOVER. 

down  ere  long  in  your  last  sleep  perhaps,  with  no 
pardon  entreated  in  a  Mediator's  name,  and  with 
no  protection  provided  against  the  second  death  and 
the  wrath  to  come  ? 

Nor  can  a  word  by  way  of  remembrance  come 
amiss  to  any.  The  only  serious  evil  is  sin.  The 
sight  of  it  filled  the  Son  of  God  with  such  concern, 
that  in  order  to  save  some, — probably  the  whole  of 
Adam's  infant  progeny  and  a  large  number  of  the 
up-grown  and  responsible, — He  assumed  the  body 
which  the  Father  prepared  for  Him,  and  as  the 
Lamb  of  God  He  offered  up  Himself  a  sacrifice. 

"  0  tliou  hideous  monster,  Sin, 

What  a  curse  hast  thou  brought  in  ! 
All  creation  groans  through  thee, 
Only  cause  of  misery  ! 
Thou  hast  ruin'd  wretched  man 
Ever  since  the  world  began  ; 
Thou  hast  God  afflicted  too  ; 
Nothing  less  than  that  would  do. 

Christ  relieves  us  from  thy  guilt ; 
But  we  think  whose  blood  was  sjjilt. 
All  we  feel  or  hear  or  see 
Serves  to  raise  our  hate  of  thee. 
Dearly  are  we  bought,  for  God 
Bought  us  with  His  own  heart's  blood. 
Boundless  depths  of  love  divine  ! 
Jesus,  what  a  love  was  thine  !  "  ^ 

And  if  you  want  to  have  done  with  sin, — if  you 
would  not  go  on  carrying  its  guilt  to  the  grave,  and 

iHart,  Hymn  41. 


THE  PASSOVER.  167 

its  germs  of  immeasurable,  illimitable  evil  into 
eternity, — cast  yourself  on  the  Saviour's  proffered 
mercy,  and  take  refuge  beneath  the  protecting 
covert  of  His  most  precious  blood.  In  so  doing  you 
comply  with  God's  command,  and  cast  yourself,  not 
only  on  His  pity,  but  on  His  truth  and  faithfulness. 
In  so  doing  you  honour  the  finished  work  of  His 
beloved  Son.  In  so  doing  you  at  once  confess  sin's 
enormity  and  proclaim  the  atonement's  efficacy,  and 
surrender  the  two  main  points  of  dispute  between 
God  and  the  gospel-rejecting  mass  of  mankind. 
Like  Israel  on  the  night  of  danger,  you  put  forth  the 
crimson  sign  of  confession,  the  red  flag  of  depreca- 
tion, and  in  return  Heaven  waves  the  white  flag  of 
truce,  the  Saviour  plants  over  the  spot  the  banner 
of  His  love.  'Ev  tovtcm  arjfieia) — under  this  stan- 
dard you  are  safe.  The  penal  consequences  of  sin 
are  intercepted,  for  the  sin  is  forgiven ;  and  its  pro- 
longation beyond  the  present  life  is  made  impossible 
by  that  most  merciful  arrangement  which  in  the  case 
of  Christ's  redeemed  leaves  all  their  besettino:  sins  on 
this  side, — all  their  corruption  in  that  house  of 
bondage  from  which  death  delivers. 


X. 

"  Throngli  faith  he  kept  the  passover,  and  the  sprinkling  of  blood, 
lest  he  that  destroyed  the  first-born  should  touch  them."— Heb. 
XI.  28. 

"  Christ  our  passover  is  sacrificed  for  us." — 1  CoK.  v.  7. 

The  night  before  any  decisive  conflict  is  a  solemn 
and  anxious  season.  On  the  niglit  before  the  battle 
of  Ivry,  which  was  to  decide  whether  he  should  lose 
his  life  or  gain  a  second  crown,  as  he  sat  pondering 
a  map  of  the  battle-field  the  hair  on  one  side  of 
King  Henry's  head  turned  grey;  and  we  like  to 
know  how  the  commanders  felt  on  the  night  which 
raised  the  siege  of  Ley  den,  on  the  night  before 
Pharsalia,  on  the  eve  of  Blenheim  or  Waterloo. 

Moses  has  not  told  us  how  he  felt  on  the  night 
before  the  Exodus  ;  but  he  has  given  us  some  inter- 
esting glimpses  of  the  scene,  or  rather  the  data  for 
reproducing  it.  It  w^as  April,  and  it  w^as  the  night 
of  the  full  moon.  The  soft  and  silvery  light  fell  on 
the  white  backs  of  the  African  mountains  far  away, 
and  it  streamed  almost  perpendicular  on  the  mighty 
Pyramids  which  rose  like  silent  symbols  of  eternity 

168. 


THE  PASSOVEE.  1G9 

straight  above  his  head.  In  the  royal  streets  of 
Memphis  all  was  silent,  and  all  was  silent  in  the 
wide  green  plain  around  it, — so  silent  that  if  you 
had  taken  a  quiet  stroll  by  the  river  brink  you 
might  have  heard  the  plunge  of  the  night- feeding 
fishes  and  the  pants  of  behemoth  as  he  slept 
among  the  bulrushes.  But  although  all  was  so 
silent,  all  was  not  locked  in  slumber.  These  lowly 
cottages, — they  are  Hebrew  huts, — the  hovels  of 
slaves,  and  they  have  lights  still  burning.  Peep 
through  the  chink  and  see  what  the  inmates  are 
doing.  They  are  all  of  them  astir ;  I  declare  not 
one  of  them  has  lain  down,  and  they  look  like 
people  preparing  for  a  journey.  On  the  table  are 
traces  of  a  finished  repast,  the  house-mother  is 
packing  up  her  kneading-trough,  with  his  staff  in  his 
hand  the  goodman  is  ready  for  the  road,  and  the 
very  children  are  excited  and  watching.  But  what 's 
this  red  mark  on  the  door  ?  What  means  this 
blood  on  the  lintel  ?  Did  you  hear  that  cry  ?  'Tis 
the  moment  of  midnight,  and  some  tragedy  is 
enacted  in  that  Egyptian  dwelling,  for  such  an 
unearthly  shriek  !  and  it  is  repeated  and  re-echoed, 
as  doors  burst  open  and  frantic  women  rush  into 
the  street,  and,  as  the  houses  of  priests  and  physi- 
cians are  beset,  they  only  shake  their  heads  in 
speechless  agony,  and  point  to  the  death- sealed 
features  of  their  own  first-born.     Lights  are  flashing 


170  THE  PASSOVER. 

at  tlie  palace  gates,  and  flitting  tlirougli  the  royal 
chambers  ;  and  as  king's  messengers  hasten  through 
the  town  inquiring  where  the  two  venerable  Hebrew 
brothers  dwell,  the  whisper  flies,  "  The  prince-royal 
is  dead  ! "  Be  off,  ye  sons  of  Jacob  !  Speed  from 
our  house  of  bondage,  ye  oppressed  and  injured 
Israelites  !  And  in  their  eagerness  to  "  thrust  forth  " 
the  terrible  because  Heaven-protected  race,  they 
press  upon  them  gold  and  jewels,  and  bribe  them 
to  be  gone. 

It  was  a  night  mucli  to  be  remembered,  for  ''  a 
nation  was  born  "  in  that  niojht.  During^  those  four 
hundred  years  Jacob's  family  had  expanded  into  a 
multitude,  the  threescore  and  fifteen  souls  had  grown 
to  at  least  a  million.  But  it  was  a  mere  inorganic 
multitude,  a  horde  without  a  head,  with  no  laws  or 
rulers  of  its  own, — a  helpless,  down- trampled  tribe, 
held  together  by  common  hardships,  and  a  common 
mother-tongue.  This  night,  hovrever,  they  sprang 
to  their  feet  an  exceeding  great  army.  In  the  sur- 
prise of  their  sudden  emancipation,  their  mouth  was 
filled  with  laughter  and  their  tongue  with  melody. 
Scarcely  credible,  it  still  was  true.  Jehovah  had 
made  bare  His  mighty  arm,  and  Pharaoh,  crushed  and 
humbled,  was  entreating  them  to  fly.  With  no  king 
over  them  but  God,  with  no  bonds  save  those  of 
mutual  brotherhood,  they  were  now  their  own 
masters,  and  moving  towards  the  Promised   Land. 


THE  PASSOVER.  171 

'No  wonder  that  the  night  when  as  a  nation  they 
were  born  became  a  night  ever  memorable  ;  a  night 
much  to  be  observed  nnto  the  Lord  for  bringing 
them  out  from  the  land  of  Egypt ;  a  night  of  Jehovah, 
to  be  observed  of  all  the  children  of  Israel  in  their 
generations.  No  wonder  if  the  15th  of  Abib,  if  the 
night  of  this  glorious  revolution,  the  return  of  their 
national  independence,  the  recurrence  of  the  exodus, 
became  a  joyful  anniversary,  and  if,  even  without 
Divine  direction,  they  had  agreed  to  keep  it  as  a 
joyful  feast  for  ever. 

But  of  such  an  event  the  memorial  was  not  left 
to  mere  chance  or  good  feeling,  and  we  have  here 
the  rules  laid  down  which  secured  its  continued 
celebration.  And  we  know  that  in  point  of  fact  the 
celebration  lasted  as  long  as  the  Hebrew  nation  had 
a  home,  and  in  some  of  its  features  it  is  still  kept 
up  by  that  peculiar  people.  Everything  was  done 
to  make  it  a  joyful  and  suggestive  jubilee,  and  if 
you  had  lived  in  the  days  of  the  Lord  Jesus  you 
would  have  seen  it  kept  somewhat  after  this  fashion  : 
— First  of  all,  the  little  capital  would  fill  up  with 
people  from  all  ends  of  Palestine,  would  fill  up  and 
brim  over  like  a  great  bee-hive,  every  house  as  full 
as  it  could  hold,  and  thousands  lodging  anywhere, 
all  bright  and  cheerful,  hospitable,  and  open-handed, 
for  the  maxim  was,  "  This  day  is  holy  unto  the  Lord 
your  God,  go  your  way,  eat  the  fat  and  drink  tlie 


172  THE  PASSOVER. 

sweet ;  neither  be  ye  sorry,  for  the  joy  of  the  Lord 
is  your  strength."  Four  days  beforehand,  the  father 
of  the  family  brought  home  a  lamb,  gentle  and 
beautiful,  sure  to  take  the  hearts  of  the  children ; 
but  in  this  instance  a  short-lived  favourite,  for  in 
four  days  the  lamb  must  die.  Then  came  the  day 
of  preparation,  with  its  hunt  through  all  the  house 
in  search  of  that  leavened  bread  which  they  were 
commanded  to  put  away,  when  every  drawer  and 
cupboard  was  opened,  and  every  corner  carefully 
explored,  and  if  the  smallest  morsel  was  found  it  was 
brushed  into  a  basin,  and  carried  out  to  a  bonfire 
kindled  on  purpose,  and  burnt  with  a  j)rayer  for  its 
annihilation.  Then  came  the  high  day,  the  killing 
of  the  passover,  followed  by  the  paschal  feast, — a 
feast  with  specialties  sure  to  strike  the  younger 
spectators.  Instead  of  putting  off  their  shoes  at  the 
door  of  the  apartment,  as  usual,  the  guests  walked 
in  in  their  sandals,  loins  girded  and  staff  in  hand, 
and,  not  unfrequently,  instead  of  reclining  they 
simply  stood  round  the  table,  like  pilgrims  or 
passers-by,  who  could  hardly  wait  to  snatch  a  hasty 
morsel.  Then  on  the  table,  besides  the  all-important 
lamb,  roasted,  and  with  bitter  herbs  sprinkled  over 
it,  stood  one  great  goblet  of  wine;  and  for  bread, 
instead  of  the  ordinary  loaves,  were  thin  airy  cakes 
of  the  finest  whitest  flour,  and  a  solid  cake  of  figs 
and  almonds,  shaped  like  a  brick,  and  with  cinnamon 


THE  PASSOVER.  173 

strewed  over  it  in  imitation  of  straw.  Whilst  the 
feast  was  going  on,  at  a  signal  from  his  mother,  the 
yonngest  child  in  the  party  asked — "  What  mean  ye 
by  this  service  ?"  and  then  the  grandfather,  or  oldest 
guest,  made  answer :  "  Long  ago  our  fathers  lived 
in  Egypt,  and  the  Egyptians  made  them  slaves.  The 
Egyptians  used  them  very  cruelly,  and  our  fathers 
cried  to  God.  God  said  to  the  king  of  Egypt,  '  Let  my 
people  Israel  go  ;'  but  the  heart  of  the  king  was  very 
hard,  and  for  all  the  plagues  which  God  sent  on 
Egypt  the  king  would  not  let  Israel  go.  At  last 
God  said  to  our  fathers,  '  Take  every  family  of  you 
a  lamb,  and  kill  it  to-night,  and  sprinkle  its  blood 
upon  your  door,  and  stand  ready  to  start,  for  this 
night  Egypt  will  be  glad  when  you  go.'  And  that 
night  into  all  except  the  blood- sprinkled  houses 
went  the  angel  of  death,  and  smote  the  first-born, 
whilst  he  passed  over  our  fathers,  whom,  from  that 
house  of  bondac^e,  and  that  niojht  much  to  be  ob- 
served,  with  a  high  hand  and  an  outstretched  arm, 
God  carried  to  this  goodly  land.  So  we,  the  sons 
of  Israel,  come  together  to  keep  the  gTeat  feast  of 
the  Hebrew  family.  We  eat  the  unleavened  bread 
and  the  lamb  with  bitter  herbs  as  our  fathers  ate 
that  night.  This  day  is  holy  unto  the  Lord,  and  as 
we  keep  our  joyful  feast  we  sing  the  Great  Hallel."  ^ 
The  night  of  that  great   exodus  was  the  birth - 

1  See  Helen's  Pilgrimage. 


174*  THE  PASSOVER. 

night  of  the  Hebrew  nationality.  If  we  want  to 
find  the  second  birth-day  of  the  world,  or  rather  the 
true  birth-day  of  God's  redeemed,  the  period  from 
which  our  human  family  dates  its  new  life,  its  new 
hope  and  happiness,  we  must  put  two  together — the 
one  which  saw  the  Advent  effected,  and  that  other 
which  saw  the  Atonement  accomplished;  the  one 
when  to  sinful  men  it  was  said,  "  To  you  a  Saviour 
is  born,"  and  that  other  when,  in  the  hearing  of  earth 
and  heaven,  this  Saviour  said,  "  It  is  finished."  The 
two  dates,  with  their  intervening  lifetime  of  thirty 
years,  crush  up  into  one  great  demiurgic  day,  a  great 
divine  day,  with  its  morning  softly  spread  on  the 
hills  of  Bethlehem,  with  its  sun  going  down  amidst 
sombre  clouds  on  Calvary  ;  and  it  will  depend  a 
little  on  temperament,  and  still  more  on  personal 
experience,  whether  it  is  on  the  morning  or  evening 
of  Christ's  "day"  that  the  spirit  mainly  dwells: 
whether  it  be  at  the  cradle  of  Incarnate  Deity  or  at 
the  cross  of  Atoning  Omnipotence  that  it  finds  the 
wished-for  consolation,  and  is  prepared  to  depart  in 
peace. 

Christ  our  paschal  lamb  has  been  sacrificed  for 
us.  It  is  a  sacrifice  which  needs  not  to  be  repeated, 
but  surely  it  deserves  to  be  commemorated ;  and  if 
we  are  loyal  to  our  Divine  Benefactor  and  true  to 
our  own  interest,  we  shall  not  fail  to  do  thus  much 
in  remembrance  of  Him. 


THE  PASSOVER.  175 

"  But  what  mean  ye  by  this  service  ?"  asks  your 
son  or  asks  the  attentive  spectator.  And  you  make 
answer,  "  It  was  a  night  much  to  be  remembered. 
Our  wdiole  family  liad  fallen  into  captivity  and 
servitude.  We  had  become  the  thralls  of  Satan, — 
the  world  itself  one  vast  house  of  bondage,  and  its 
different  inhabitants  the  slaves  of  divers  lusts  and 
passions.  But  at  last  there  came  into  our  house  of 
bondage  one  who  did  not  originally  belong  to  it. 
He  was  God's  own  Son.  In  His  spirit  there  was 
nothing  servile.  The  largest  slave- ow^ners  tried  to 
have  Him, — Gold,  Ambition,  Appetite,  ApoUyon 
himself,  all  came  np  to  Him,  each  hiding  a  chain 
behind  his  back,  and  in  the  other  hand  holding  ont 
the  lures  which  had  hardly  ever  been  know^n  to  fail. 
But  there  was  no  danger  of  their  succeeding, — He 
despised  their  image  and  looked  them  through  and 
through — looked  them  through  and  through — saw 
the  foul  purpose  in  their  heart,  saw  the  noose 
behind  their  back,  and  finding  nothing  in  Him,  dis- 
comfited they  went  their  way.  And  then  as  if  in 
this  prophet  like  unto  Moses  a  Joseph  also  had 
come  again,  He  went  and  harangued  His  brethren. 
He  sought  to  inspire  them  with  those  high  thoughts 
which  were  familiar  to  His  own  free-born  spirit, 
and  on  some — sons  of  Zebedee  and  others — His 
words  so  wrought  that  their  abject  eyes  looked  up 
and  they  leaped  as  if  they  had  already  lost  their 


176  THE  PASSOVER. 

chains.  And  had  it  been  with  a  mere  taskmaster 
and  tyrant  that  He  had  to  deal — a  Pharaoh  or 
Apollyon  who  had  no  hold  of  right — He  soon  had 
set  them  free.  But  over  all  there  hung  a  heavy 
sentence  in  sad  and  sinful  earnest  incurred,  and 
which  could  not  be  lightly  repealed.  Yes,  before 
He  could  give  life  to  them — to  say  nothing  of 
liberty — a  life  free  from  forfeiture,  He  must  give  a 
life  for  them.  Those  immediately  around  Him 
were  amazed.  They  could  not  understand  it. 
They  remonstrated,  they  begged  that  He  would 
never  think  of  it.  They  little  knew  the  exigency. 
But  He  knew  it  well,  and  in  awful  far-seeing  self- 
sacrifice  went  forward  to  the  hour,  for  the  sake  of 
which  He  had  come  into  the  world.  It  was  the 
fulness  of  time,  and  the  cup  of  man's  wretchedness 
and  sin  ran  over — the  signal  for  redemption.  That 
same  April  month  had  come — that  same  full  moon 
was  hanging  over  Olivet  which  fifteen  centuries 
before  had  lighted  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord  from 
Goshen  to  Succoth,  and  the  feast  of  Israel's  Ee- 
demption  was  about  to  be  kept  in  the  stirring 
streets  of  Jerusalem.  He  kept  it  Himself,  and 
saying  to  the  Father,  "  Father,  the  hour  is  come — 
the  hour  for  whose  sake  I  came  into  the  world," 
He  explained  to  His  friends  as  far  as  they  were 
able  to  bear  it  what  was  about  to  transpire.  He 
hinted  that  for  the  protection  of  sinners  a  life  more 


THE  PASSOVER.  177 

precious  was  needful  than  the  life  of  this  paschal 
lamb.  "  Eat  this  bread,  and  think  of  my  body 
about  to  be  broken— drink  this  cup,  and  remember 
my  blood  about  to  be  shed  for  the  remission  of 
sins,"  and  lo,  he  that  betrayed  Him  was  at  hand ; 
before  another  evening  Christ  the  Lamb  of  God,  our 
passover,  was  sacrificed  for  us.  The  price  was  paid, 
even  that  price  which  frees  from  second  death  and 
present  condemnation,  and  with  the  penalty  re- 
pealed and  the  sin-thraldom  broken,  those  are  free 
indeed  whom  the  Son  of  God  makes  free. 

Woful  is  the  slavery  where  the  higher  nature  is 
in  thraldom  to  the  lower :  as  happened  not  un- 
frequently  in  days  scarcely  yet  forgotten.  A 
scholar,  a  traveller,  a  high-born  gentleman,  fell  into 
the  hands  of  pirates,  and  was  carried  off  to  some 
robber -nest  on  the  Barbary  shore,  and  there  for  the 
rest  of  life  was  he  left  to  languish — rowing  the 
galley,  grooming  the  charger,  tending  the  cattle  of 
his  Moslem  master.  Could  aught  be  more  bitter 
and  heart-breaking  ? — to  have  tastes  and  aspirations 
which  he  could  no  lonc^er  cultivate,  friends  and 
kindred  whom  he  could  no  longer  see,  a  faith 
which  he  could  only  confess  to  incur  taunts  and 
mockery  ?  It  was  not  the  drudgery — hateful  as 
that  might  be, — but  it  was  this  horrible  frustration 
of  existence — this  subjection  of  high  capacities  to  a 
thraldom  coarse  and  cruel.  And  man  was  free- 
M 


178  THE  PASSOVER. 

born.  Adam  was  the  son  of  God,  and  if  yon  are 
the  servant  of  sin — if  you  are  the  slave  of  appetite 
or  passion — if  any  sin  has  dominion  over  you, — you 
are  in  a  state  most  unnatural — altogether  unlike 
man's  original,  and  most  unworthy  of  a  nature  once 
free  and  strong  for  good.  Perhaps  you  are  not 
content ;  perhaps  you  are  conscious  of  an  occasional 
struggle.  Eeminiscences  of  the  first  estate  come 
over  you,  like  the  sight  of  his  country's  flag,  like 
the  scent  of  some  familiar  flower  which  grew  in 
the  garden  of  his  youth,  and  which  fills  with  tears 
the  exile's  eyes — visitations  come  across  your 
spirit  of  compunction  and  regret,  and  you  exclaim, 
"  0  that  I  were  free  !  0  that  I  were  strong  for  good ! 
0  that  I  were  able  to  bring  under  the  body  and 
keep  it  in  subjection !  0  that  I  could  break  these 
chains  of  evil  habit,  and  claim  the  glorious  liberty 
of  the  sons  of  God  !  I  detest  my  tyrant,  I  despise 
myself  for  so  long  enduring  his  odious  despotism ; 
but  oh  !  wretched  man  that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver 
me?"  Are  you  indeed  in  earnest?  Are  you  sick 
of  sin's  slavery  and  anxious  to  escape  from  Egypt  ? 
Then  give  yourself  to  Christ.  If  He  claims  you 
none  can  keep  you,  and  if  you  cast  yourself  on  Him 
He  will  not  refuse  you.  Eedeemed  by  His  most 
precious  blood,  Divine  justice  has  no  desire  to 
detain  you,  and  Sin  and  Satan  have  no  right.  Ee- 
joicing  to  succour  those  who  seek  to  follow  right- 


THE  PASSOVER.  179 

eousness,  but  who  confess  that  their  strength  is 
small,  to  your  help  will  come  the  Holy  Spirit,  and, 
fostering  the  good  desires  which  He  himself 
enkindles,  He  will  carry  you  from  strength  still 
forward  unto  strength,  till  you  appear  before  God  in 
Zion  a  redeemed  and  ransomed  spirit — free  from 
condemnation  ever  since  the  first  step  was  taken, 
and  now  free  from  the  body  of  death,  free  from 
besetting  sins,  free  from  temptation  and  all  further 
risk  of  falling. 


XL 

'  And  the  Lord  went  before  them  by  day  in  a  pillar  of  a  cloud,  to 
lead  them  the  way  ;  and  by  night  in  a  pillar  of  fire,  to  give  them 
light,  to  go  by  day  and  night.  He  took  not  away  the  pillar  of 
the  clond  by  day,  nor  the  pillar  of  fire  by  night,  from  before  the 
people."— Ex.  xiii.  21,  22. 

In  the  campaigns  of  Alexander  the  Great,  we  are 
told  that  over  his  tent  he  caused  a  lofty  pole  to  be 
set  up,  and  on  its  summit  was  a  brazier  filled  with 
combustible  materials  kept  constantly  burning.  In 
this  way,  if  any  one  wanted  to  find  the  commander's 
head-quarters  he  could  never  be  at  any  loss,  for 
over  them  floated  the  cloudy  banner  by  day,  the 
flaming  beacon  by  night.  This  usage  he  borrowed 
from  the  Persians,  but  whence  they  derived  it  we 
do  not  know. 

It  was  a  good  contrivance ;  but  here  we  find  it 
anticipated  after  a  fashion  so  august,  that  except  as 
an  illustration  it  is  of  no  use  mentioning  the  expe- 
dient of  the  Macedonian  conqueror. 

On  the  night  of  their  destined  deliverance,  when 
at    Succoth  the   Israelites   reached  the   appointed 

180 


THE  FIEEY-CLOUDY  PILLAR.  181 

rendezvous  unorganized,  and  of  late  unaccustomed 
to  martial  movements,  the  inquiry  of  tlie  more 
thoughtful  would  be  as  to  their  future  progress  and 
the  plan  of  march.  But  Moses  claimed  no  king- 
ship. He  had  been  God's  messenger  to  Pharaoh, 
and  he  had  spoken  God's  messages  to  themselves ; 
but  except  that  reluctant  prominence  to  which  he 
had  been  forced  by  the  absolute  command  of  God, 
Moses  had  assumed  no  personal  responsibility.  He 
did  not  so  much  as  profess  to  know  the  route,  and 
as  possibly  there  was  no  one  there  who  had  per- 
formed the  journey  across  the  desert  to  Canaan, 
they  might  soon  have  found  themselves  a  helpless 
mass,  a  weltering  crowd  huddled  together  as  sheep 
without  a  shepherd,  had  they  not  espied  betimes  a 
banner  in  the  sky,  the  standard  of  their  unseen  leader, 
and  gathered  reassumnce  from  its  saving  sign. 

The  word  Shekinah  is  a  Hebrew  term.  It  denotes 
*'  dwelling  as  in  a  tent  or  tabernacle."  And  although 
the  infinite  Jehovah  is  nowhere  excluded,  although 
there  is  no  spot  in  immensity  where  God  is  absent, 
to  our  limited  and  place-loving  minds  locality  is  a 
helpful  element,  and — especially  in  the  ruder  and 
more  infantile  ages  of  our  race — the  Most  High  has 
condescended  and  met  this  localizing  propensity. 
He  has  selected  a  place,  and  in  that  place  has  made 
His  presence  manifest  or  palpable.  Such  a  place 
was  Horeb  and  its  burning  bush,  when  Moses  took. 


182  THE  FIERY- CLOUDY  PILLAK. 

off  his  shoes ;  for  there,  on  His  servant's  view,  in 
visible  glory,  had  flamed  out  a  token  of  His  pre- 
sence, who  is  the  heaven- filling,  space-pervading 
I  AM.  Such  a  place  for  a  thousand  years  w^as  the 
Temple  on  Moriah ;  for  although  in  His  essential 
presence  Jehovah  had  still  His  path  on  the  waters 
and  in  regions  where  the  wings  of  the  morning  could 
not  penetrate,  it  was  still  with  perfect  truth  that  the 
worshipper  recognised  in  that  beautiful  house  a  per- 
manent Bethel,  and  feeling,  "  How  dreadful  is  this 
place  !  this  is  none  other  than  the  house  of  God,  the 
gate  of  heaven,"  prayed  withal,  "  0  thou  that  sittest 
between  the  cherubim,  shine  forth  !"  And  during 
the  desert  journey  such  a  place  was  this  aerial  pillar. 
So  far  like  the  flag  alternately  smoking  and  flaming, 
which  a  general  would  have  suspended  over  his 
tent — a  waving  pendant  by  day  and  a  torch  by 
night, — so  far  like  this  as  at  once  to  suggest  the 
head- quarters  of  their  camp  and  the  presence  of 
their  leader,  it  was  so  entirely  miraculous  as  at 
once  to  lift  their  minds  above  Moses,  and  suggest 
to  the  dullest  in  their  midst  that  they  were  under 
the  protection  of  heavenly  power,  that  the  Captain 
of  their  host  was  Divine. 

As  far  as  the  purposes  of  the  Israelites  were  con- 
cerned, that  cloudy-fiery  pillar  was  the  throne  of 
the  Eternal ;  it  was  the  Shekinah  or  dwelling-place 
of  Israel's  God ;  it ,  was  the  manifestation  of  His 


THE  FIERY-CLOUDY  PILLAR.  183 

friendly  protecting  presence  in  their  midst ;  and 
often  as  the  Israelite  looked  up  and  saw  the  ma- 
jestic symbol,  he  felt  assured,  "  And  God  is  with 
us;"  as  in  the  well-known  words, — 

"  When  Israel,  of  the  Lord  beloved, 

Out  from  the  laud  of  boudage  came, 
Their  fathers'  God  before  them  moved. 
An  awful  guide,  in  cloud  and  flame  ! 

By  day,  along  the  astonished  lands, 

The  cloudy  pillar  glided  slow  ; 
By  night,  Arabia's  crimsoned  sands 

Returned  the  fiery  column's  glow." 

There  was  sure  guidance  in  its  goings — a  pledge  of 
safety  in  its  presence  ;  by  day  a  welcome  awning  in 
its  shadow,  and  by  night  an  illumination  no  less 
welcome  in  its  forth-flowing  effulgence.  That  pillar 
was  Israel's  pioneer.  When  the  cloud  journeyed 
they  journeyed,  and  when  the  cloud  rested  the 
people  rested.  It  was  Israel's  protector.  When 
Pharaoh  gave  chase,  the  cloudy  pillar  passed  from 
the  front  of  the  camp  to  the  rear,  and  became  to  the 
one  a  lamp,  and  to  the  other  a  "  horror  of  thick 
darkness,"  so  that  the  Egyptians  could  not  get  near 
the  Israelites  all  the  night ;  and  the  only  time  that 
they  fled  before  their  enemies,  was  when  the  cloud 
refused  to  advance,  and  yet  they  wilfully  rushed 
into  battle.  The  cloud  was  Israel's  angel  and  oracle. 
On  one  occasion  it  shot  devouring  flame,  and  it  was 
by  a  flash  from  its  consuming  fire  that,  in  the  act  of 


1S4  THE  FIERY-CLOUDY  PILLAR. 

rebellion,  Nadab  and  Abihu  fell  dead ;  but  usually, 
its  presence  was  friendly  and  propitious.  "  They 
called  upon  tlie  Lord  and  he  answered  them :  He 
spake  unto  them  in  the  cloudy  pillar"  (Ps.  xcix.) ; 
and  all  the  allusions  show  what  a  loved  and  wel- 
come sign  had  that  Shekinah  been,  and  how  sacred 
was  its  memory.  "  In  the  daytime  he  led  them 
with  a  cloud,  and  all  the  night  with  a  light  of  fire" 
(Ps.  Ixxviii.  14);  and  "He  spread  that  cloud  for  a 
covering"  (Ps.  cv.  39)  ; — to  all  which  elements  of 
protection,  guidance,  comfort,  the  prophet  refers,  in 
describing  the  millennial  Church  :  "  The  Lord  will 
create  upon  every  dwelling-place  of  mount  Zion, 
and  upon  her  assemblies,  a  cloud  and  smoke  by  day, 
and  the  shining  of  a  flaming  fire  by  night  :  for  upon 
all  the  glory  shall  be  a  defence  "  (Isa.  iv.  5). 

This  is  our  Etham.  Let  us  look  at  the  pillar  of 
cloud  and  of  fire  which  offers  to  guide  and  to  guard 
us  in  our  journey  from  *Egypt  to  Canaan — in  our 
journey  from  the  new  starting-point  of  this  morning 
to  the  mansions  which  Jesus  has  prepared  for  those 
who  seek  a  better  country. 

Christ  is  our  Captain.  If  you  are  a  Christian, 
the  Lord  Jesus  is  your  Leader.  He  is  beside  you, 
before  you ;  for  He  has  said,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you 
alway."  You  have  declared  your  confidence  in 
Him,  and  your  affection  for  Him.  Whither  He  con- 
ducts you  wish  to  proceed  ;  where  He  goes  before  it 


THE  riEEY-CLOUDY  PILLAE.  185 

is  your  desire  to  follow.  But  where  is  your  guiding 
star,  your  oriflamme,  your  precursor  pillar,  your 
fiery- cloudy  column  ? 

On  this  point  there  can  be  little  difficulty.  The 
Bible  is  the  Word  of  Christ.  Into  that  brief  but 
abounding  record  He  has  put  all  His  mind  concern- 
ing us.  Like  the  angel  of  His  presence  (Ex.  xiv.  1 9), 
we  have  it  ever  with  us,  the  tangible  token  of  His 
friendliness,  the  abiding  exponent  of  His  will.  If 
we  are  at  any  loss  we  have  only  to  consult  its 
lively  oracle,  and  if  we  are  in  any  fear  we  have 
only  to  look  up  to  the  great  and  precious  promise 
in  its  quenchless  ray.  The  ultimate  and  true  She- 
kinali  was  Immanuel.  In  Him  dwelt  all  the  fulness 
of  the  Godhead  bodily;  and  when  Jesus  dwelt 
amongst  us,  the  Godhead  did,  in  a  way  most  mani- 
fest and  marvellous,  in  very  deed  dweU  with  man 
upon  earth.  'Nov  has  He  ceased  to  do  so.  In  the 
Christ  unseen  but  present  still,  earth  is  still  God's 
dwelling  ;  but  if  we  want  something  palpable,  local, 
tangible,  we  have  it  in  the  written  Word.  The 
mind  that  was  in  Christ  was  the  mind  that  is  still 
in  the  Bible  ;  and  should  the  Holy  Spirit  make  a 
transfusion  of  that  mind  into  our  own,  we  should 
want  no  more.  We  should  want  no  argument  to 
prove  that  there  is  a  heaven,  for  we  should  have 
the  earnest  already  in  ourselves.  We  should  not 
need   to  go  up   to  older   disciples   and  more   ex- 


186  THE  FIERY-CLOUDY  PILLAR. 

perienced  believers,  saying,  "  Sir,  we  would  see 
Jesns,"  for  Christ  would  live  in  ns,  the  lidit  of 
all  our  seeing,  the  life  of  all  our  living,  without 
whom  the  universe  were  dark  to  us  and  desolate. 
We  should  not  need  to  say  continually — 

"  'Tis  a  point  I  long  to  know, 
Do  I  love  the  Lord  or  not  ? " 

for  with  such  an  Alpha  and  Omega  to  our  faith  and 
affections,  we  should  be  raised  above  sinful  doubts 
and  selfish  solicitudes,  and  should  have  only  one 
answer  to  the  question,  "  Lovest  thou  me  ?" 

Christ  is  our  Captain,  and  the  Bible  is  His  banner, 
which  He  bids  us  eye  and  follow.  It  is  the  fiery- 
cloudy  pillar,  regarding  which  He  says,  "  Behold,  I 
send  an  angel  before  thee,  to  keep  thee  in  the  way, 
and  to  bring  thee  into  the  place  which  I  have  pre- 
pared. Beware  of  him  and  obey  his  voice,  for 
my  name  is  in  him."  Christ  himself,  the  Incarnate 
Word  of  God,  still  speaks  to  us  in  the  written  Word  ; 
and  if  you  ask,  "  Where  is  the  Shekinah  now  ? " 
We  answer,  "  In  the  volume  of  this  book.  Here  it 
is  that  the  mind  of  God  still  maintains  its  resid- 
ence ;  and  here  it  is  that  He  who  sits  between  the 
cherubim  still  speaks  to  us.  This  is  the  enduring 
Bethel  where  the  golden  stair  from  earth  to  heaven 
can  still  be  found — the  ladder  not  yet  drawn  up 
and  taken  in,  on  which  the  shortest  step  and 
feeblest  faith  may   find    a   footing ;    the    moving 


THE  FIERY-CLOUDY  PILLAK.  187 

shrine,  the  perennial  Shekinah  which,  whosoever 
follows,  will  find  himself  guided  by  God's  counsel 
and  at  last  received  to  His  glory." 

1.  The  Bible  is  a  sure  and  certain  guide.  The 
Bible  comes  from  God,  and  so  it  is  the  only  book 
by  following  which  we  can  be  sure  of  getting  back 
to  God.  Possibly  enough  the  fiery- cloudy  pillar 
was  not  at  first  sight  particularly  specious  or  im- 
posing. On  the  banks  of  the  Nile  the  Israelites 
may  have  seen  a  bigger  bonfire,  some  magical  and 
many- coloured  illumination,  fitted  to  make  as  great 
an  impression  for  the  moment,  or  even  in  the  desert 
a  sudden  meteor  may  have  launched  into  the  sky 
and  swift  as  thought  along  its  line  of  light  may  have 
darted  towards  the  promised  land ;  but  who  would 
take  for  his  guide  an  ignis  fatuiis  or  a  shooting-star  ? 
And  this  sultry  afternoon,  wafted  from  the  sea,  a 
great  cloud  has  overspread  the  firmament.  It  is 
broader  than  the  cloudy  column,  and  all  the  camp 
is  grateful  for  its  canopy.  And  now  that  the  sun 
is  setting,  how  poor  and  tame  the  familiar  pillar 
looks  beneath  its  molten  chrysolite  and  purpled 
majesty  !  But  before  the  first  watch  is  over,  its 
bosom  throbs  with  fire,  and  coming  down  in 
noise  and  tempest,  before  the  morrow  it  is  utterly 
evanished,  and  as  a  shadow  from  the  heat  the 
pillar  remains  the  only  awning  in  all  that  weary 
land. 


188  THE  FIERY-CLOUDY  PILLAR. 

A  poet  throws  out  a  brilliant  flash,  a  day- 
dreamer  gets  hold  of  a  beautiful  kind-looking 
thought,  and  teases  and  teds  it,  and  tosses  it  out 
into  a  cloud  fine  and  filmy,  and  avers  that  it  covers 
more  space,  that  it  is  more  comprehensive  and  more 
fitted  to  the  case  of  mankind  than  Bible  philan- 
thropy; but  even  the  spark  of  a  neighbour's  fire 
makes  it  up  like  gossamer,  and  nobody  waits  to  see 
where  the  ashes  come  down  ;  whilst  theories  more 
laboured  and  specious,  ideal  philosophies  and  god- 
less philanthropies,  systems  exhaled  from  the  great 
gulf  of  opinion,  spread  over  the  sky,  and  for  a 
moment  have  it  all  to  themselves ;  but  at  last  in 
some  Eobespierrian  revolution  the  thunder  bursts, 
the  storm  comes  down,  and  the  sky  is  bare.  But 
for  the  persistent  pillar — the  Word  of  the  Lord 
which  endureth  for  ever — there  would  be  no  com- 
forter nor  covert  from  all  the  sultry  noon. 

Says  Jesus,  "  I  am  the  Light  of  the  world  ;  he 
that  followeth  me  shall  not  walk  in  darkness,  but 
shall  have  the  light  of  life."  You  want  pardon,  and 
the  word  of  Christ  conducts  you  to  the  cross.  You 
want  a  sense  of  God's  friendship,  you  want  to  know 
that  the  great  God  does  not  despise  you,  nor  the 
holy  God  dislike  you ;  and  this  Word  leads  you 
to  the  throne  of  grace,  and  teaches  you  to  cry,  Abba, 
Father.  You  want  wisdom,  zeal,  and  prudence, 
serenity,  and  self-possession,  a  firm  and  noble  con- 


THE  FIERY-CLOUDY  PILLAE.  189 

stancy,  with  a  bright  and  engaging  winsomeness  ; 
and  this  Word  tells  you  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  tells  you 
that  if  you  entreat  the  aid  of  that  great  Comforter 
He  will  come  to  you,  and  replacing  nature's  gloom 
with  heavenly  gladness,  will  also  give  you  the  germs 
and  earnests  of  those  gracious  dispositions  of  which 
a  better  world  is  full. 

2.  The  Bible  is  a  guide  adapted  to  every  circum- 
stance and  every  season.  Its  shade  made  the  pillar 
welcome  by  day,  its  brightness  made  it  still  more 
welcome  by  night.  To  any  susceptible  spirit  it  must 
have  been  a  striking  scene  which  at  the  noon  of 
night  opened  from  the  outskirts  of  the  camp  ;  for  you 
know  that  night  is  a  great  revealer.  As  soon  as  the 
veil  of  sunshine  is  withdrawn  new  worlds  come 
forth :  the  azure  canopy  retires,  heaven  opens,  and, 
as  the  starry  vistas  boundlessly  withdraw,  space 
growls  infinite  ;  and  yet,  what  is  very  strange,  whilst 
man  grows  little  God  draws  near.  Nor  are  they  the 
great  lights  only,  Sirius,  Arcturus,  and  sucli  mighty 
suns  which  burst  upon  our  eye  now  that  the  glamour 
of  the  day  is  gone,  but  such  lesser  lights  as  the 
glow-worm  on  this  bank,  as  the  lantern  flies  that 
rain  beneath  the  tamarisk  covert.  And  yonder  is 
the  forefront  of  the  camp.  Brother  pilgrims  are 
locked  in  slumber,  but  He  that  keepeth  Israel,  He 
slumbers  not.  Behold  the  sign — that  tall  and 
silvery  column  which  sheds  down  on  all  the  tents 


190  THE  FIERY -CLOUDY  PILLAR. 

a  softer  day-spring,  meet  emblem  of  that  Eye  divine 
which  never  wearies,  and  which  is  beaming  over  His 
beloved  even  in  their  sleep. 

So  the  Bible  is  the  worker's  book.  "  Work  while 
it  is  day."  To  the  toiling  pilgrim  there  is  direction 
in  its  pillared  way-mark ;  there  is  comfort  in  its 
cool  and  shado\vy  covert.  In  Christ,  within  the 
camp,  under  His  guidance,  it  is  delightful  to  press 
on,  working  in  faith,  labouring  in  love,  always 
abounding  in  that  service  so  fruitful  and  blessed. 
"But  the  night  Cometh  when  no  man  can  work;" 
the  night  of  suffering  or  sadness,  when  all  that  you 
can  do  is  to  weep  and  be  silent,  is  to  sit  still  and 
wait.  But  if  you  "suffer  as  a  Christian,"  your 
nocturnal  experiences  will  be  not  a  little  instructive 
and  remarkable.  For  one  thing,  now  that  the 
garish  day  is  gone,  now  that  the  near-hand  glitter 
has  passed  away,  the  things  unseen  and  eternal  will 
shine  forth, — 

"  Just  as  we  see  by  night 
Worlds  never  seen  by  day." 

But  not  stars  alone,  not  the  everlasting  glories  over- 
head, but  little  joys  and  blessings  all  around,  the 
glow-worms  of  our  path,  whose  tiny  tapers  had  no 
chance  till  "now ;  those  lesser  joys  and  blessings 
which  are  in  almost  every  lot,  but  which  no  one 
says,  "  How  good  they  are  !  how  beautiful ! '  till  the 
sun  has  set,  and  God's  lesser  lamps  get  leave  to 


THE  FIERY- CLOUDY  PILLAR.  191 

shine,  till  the  homely  neighbour,  till  the  wife  or 
daughter  comes  in  to  cheer  the  poor  man  or  the 
invalid.  And  then  it  is  that  the  cloudy  pillar  of 
the  working  day  becomes  the  brightening  Pharos 
and  soothing  guardian  of  the  wakeful  night.  To  the 
sturdy  thinker  or  practical  worker,  a  proverb  of 
Solomon  was  a  motto  for  a  whole  day's  direction,  an 
argument  of  Paul  was  a  problem  for  a  long  winter's 
discussion.  But  now  that  it  is  dark  all  over  the 
desert,  now  that  the  watcher  lies  musing  in  his  tent, 
and  pushes  aside  a  handbreadth  of  curtain,  he  is 
glad  to  see  through  the  encompassing  cloud  coming 
forth  a  body  of  brightness ;  and  as  he  wistfully  gazes 
the  form  grows  more  definite,  the  features  more 
divine,  till  on  the  great  white  throne  of  that  radiant 
cloud  he  sees  none  other  than  the  Son  of  Man.  So 
move  on,  thou  dim  and  mysterious  column,  or  stand 
still,  thou  bright  and  transparent  pillar,  I  follow  thee. 
Jesus  is  in  thee,  and  over  green  pastures,  over  rough 
deserts,  through  the  Eed  Sea,  through  Jordan,  along 
streets  populous  with  friendship  and  resounding  with 
life,  and  adown  the  lone  valley  of  death,  0  Word  of 
God,  I  follow  thee. 

When  the  Israelites  were  at  Etham  they  did  not 
Ivuow  all  that  lay  before  them.  On  the  one  hand, 
they  had  no  notion  what  a  waste  howling  wilderness 
it  was,  nor  what  a  terrible  time  was  to  be  spent 
passing  through  it.     On  the  other  hand,  they  could 


192  TPIE  FIERY -CLOUDY  PILLAR. 

as  little  foresee  the  wonders  which  they  were  destined 
to  witness,  the  miraculous  meals,  the  fountain  opened 
in  the  flinty  rock,  and  above  all  that  great  episode 
when  the  voice  of  the  Eternal  broke  the  silence  of 
ages,  and  from  the  pulpit  of  Sinai  spake  the  Ten 
Commandments.  All  their  future  was  hidden  in 
the  cloud  of  God's  unsearchable  wisdom,  and  yet  in 
the  movements  of  that  visible  pillar  their  own  course 
was  perfectly  clear. 

And  so,  my  friends,  a  day  like  this  is  our  Etham. 
We  are  so  far  on  "  the  edge  of  the  wilderness."  A 
tract  of  untraversed  time  spreads  before  us,  and 
although  we  shall  not  call  it  "  a  wretched  land,  which 
yields  us  no  supplies,"  it  is  so  far  like  the  desert, 
inasmuch  as  it  is  a  land  unknown.  Of  one  thing  we 
may  be  very  sure,  it  won't  be  all  like  Elim ;  it  won't 
be  all  rest  and  relaxation,  a  protracted  holiday,  a 
perpetual  paradise  with  ripe  dates  overhead  and  soft 
grass  under  foot ;  but  there  will  be  a  good  deal  of 
toilsome  marching,  perhaps  some  fighting,  a  good 
deal  of  hard  and  hungry  work,  a  good  deal  of  self- 
denial.  But  let  us  also  hope  that,  as  in  the  past  so 
still,  there  will  be  goodness  and  mercy.  Let  us  hope 
that  if  an  Amalek  come  forth  against  us,  a  face  to 
the  foe  with  hands  uplifted  to  heaven  may  prevail 
If  arrested  in  our  path,  if  a  sudden  voice  exclaims 
"  Stand  still ! "  let  us  hope  that  it  may  be  in  order  to 
see  some  great  salvation.     And  above  all  let  us  hope 


THE  FIERY- CLOUDY  PILLAR.  193 

and  be  sure  that  the  bread  of  life  will  not  fail,  nor 
the  brook  which  runneth  by  the  way,  that  Eock 
which  followeth  all  the  pilgrimage;  and  if  any 
special  manifestation  of  mercy  or  power  be  vouch- 
safed, let  us  pray  that  it  may  be  a  means  of  grace, — 
that  like  the  sermon  from  Horeb  it  may  write  God's 
law  deeper  on  our  hearts,  and  impress  His  own 
perfections  more  profoundly  on  our  awe -struck 
minds. 

Up  into  this  year  may  the  angel  of  God's  pre- 
sence attend  us,  and  make  it  a  year  of  proficiency 
and  progress, — a  year  of  cheerful  industry  and 
patient  endurance.  May  it  add  many  to  the  Church 
of  the  saved,  and  in  the  case  of  God's  people  may  it 
add  grace  to  grace.  Over  every  dwelling-place  of 
Mount  Zion,  over  all  your  habitations  and  all  your 
assemblies,  may  the  Lord  create  a  cloud  and  smoke 
by  day,  and  the  shining  of  a  flaming  fire  by  night ; 
and  upon  all  the  glory  may  He  be  Himself  the 
defence. 


XII. 

-1h£  |Reii  S^a. 

*'  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Wherefore  criest  thou  unto  me  ? 
Speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  that  they  go  forward."— Ex. 
XIV.  15. 

Following  their  fiery-cloucly  pillar,  the  Israelites 
set  forth  on  their  journey,  and  the  first  stage  or  two 
would  be  sufficiently  exulting  and  sanguine.  They 
had  no  conception  of  what  lay  before  them,  and  they 
might  very  well  imagine  that  from  the  house  of 
bondage  to  the  land  of  promise  would  be  a  short 
and  pleasant  promenade.  As  the  crow  flies  it  was 
little  more  than  a  hundred  miles,  and  a  week's  march 
might  bring  them  thither.  They  might  be  excused 
if  they  already  in  imagination  scented  the  milk  and 
honey  from  its  fragrant  hills,  and  if,  betwixt  sport 
and  earnest,  they  pictured  their  future  homes  and 
planned  about  their  beehives  and  gardens,  their 
dairies  and  their  farms,  and  felt  impatient  to  get  a 
glimpse  of  the  land  which  would  be  sure  to  look  so 
goodly  in  this  most  pleasant  month  of  all  the  year. 

But  here  was  a  surprise.  It  was  no  goodly  land 
but  a  watery  gulf  which  stretched  before  them,  and 


THE  RED  SEA.  195 

although  by  retracing  their  steps  they  might  round 
the  head  of  it — and  this  itself  a  sufficiently  tiresome 
detour, — behold  a  new  horror !  A  cloud  of  dust  is 
rising  in  the  rear,  and  it  can  no  longer  be  disguised 
that  the  squadrons  of  Egypt  are  in  pursuit,  fierce 
and  headlong.  The  sea  before  and  that  serried  host 
behind,  it  was  a  miserable  alternative  to  men  who 
could  neither  fight  nor  swim,  and  in  the  panic  of  the 
moment  a  great  wail  went  up  to  heaven,  whilst 
burning  taunts  were  hurled  at  the  head  of  Moses. 
"  Were  there  no  graves  in  Egypt  ?  Bondage  had 
been  better  than  this  butchery."  And  only  knowing 
that  God  purposed  to  work  a  great  deliverance,  but 
still  ignorant  of  the  means,  Moses  could  only  answer, 
"  Stand  still  and  see  God's  salvation.  The  Egyptians 
whom  ye  have  seen  to-day,  ye  shall  see  them  again 
no  more  for  ever." 

The  wondrous  sequel  we  have  read.  Whatsoever 
be  the  point  of  the  Eed  Sea  which  we  select  as  the 
scene  of  the  occurrence,  and  whatsoever  incidental 
agencies  of  wind  or  tide  we  may  call  in  as  accessories, 
the  substantial  miracle  remains ;  and  amongst  the 
marvellous  things  which  Jehovah  did  in  the  land 
of  Egypt  and  the  field  of  Zoan,  none  stands  forth 
more  conspicuous  than  this  dividing  of  the  sea.  As 
we  have  it  in  the  vivid  verse  of  Bishop  Heber  : — 

"  He  coraes — their  leader  comes  !   the  man  of  God 
O'er  the  wide  waters  lifts  his  mighty  rod, 


196  THE  EED  SEA. 

And  onward  treads  ;  the  circling  waves  retreat, 
In  hoarse  deep  murnaurs,  from  his  holy  feet ; 
And  the  chased  surges,  inly  roaring,  show 
The  hard  wet  sand  and  coral  hills  below. 
With  limbs  that  falter,  and  with  hearts  that  swell, 
Down,  down  they  pass,  a  steep  and  slippery  dell ; 
Around  them  rise,  in  pristine  chaos  hurl'd, 
The  ancient  rocks,  the  secrets  of  the  world  ; 
And  flowers  that  blush  beneath  the  ocean  green. 
And  caves,  the  sea-calves'  low-roofed  haunt,  are  seen. 
Down,  safely  down  the  narrow  pass  they  tread  ; 
The  beetling  waters  bulge  ^  above  their  head  : 
While  far  behind  retires  the  sinking  day 
And  fades  on  Edom's  hills  its  latest  ray." 

The  same  gulf  which  opened  a  triumphal  path  to 
Israel  closed  over  the  Egyptians  and  whelmed  them 
in  a  watery  grave,  fulfilling  the  word  of  the  Lord  by 
Moses,  "  The  Egyptians  whom  ye  have  seen  to-day, 
ye  shall  see  them  no  more  for  ever.''  And  in  the 
progress  of  our  narrative  we  ourselves  shall  see 
Pharaoh  no  more — a  character  which,  after  the 
manner  of  Cain  and  Herod,  stands  up  from  the 
sacred  page  awful  and  ominous,  a  seared  and  blasted 
peak  without  any  redeeming  verdure,  and  visited  by 
no  shower  of  blessing.  A  hard  man,  God  left  him 
to  himself,  so  that  he  grew  harder  still.  Proud, 
imperious,  selfish,  like  the  second  James  of  England, 
at  once  a  bigot  and  a  despot,  he  got  gradually  com- 
mitted to  the  unequal  strife,  and,  by  a  succession  of 
steps  as  false  as  they  were  natural,  was  hurried 
forward  to  the  fatal  issue. 

1  storm.— Heber. 


THE  RED  SEA.  197 

We  say  that  Pharaoh's  course  was  natural.  A 
selfish  man  and  supremely  arrogant,  it  would  have 
been  surprising  if  he  had  listened  a  single  moment 
to  the  demand,  "  Let  Israel  my  people  go."  As  serfs 
and  bondagers  they  were  invaluable,  and  to  let  them 
go  would  be  to  annihilate  the  half  of  Egypt's  in- 
dustry. ]N"or  was  his  a  mind  with  whicli  considera- 
tions of  equity  or  humanity  had  any  weight.  It 
would  not  be  of  the  smallest  use  to  urge  how  long 
Israel  had  already  served  for  nothing,  and  how 
unkind  it  was  to  keep  in  odious  captivity  men  who 
had  done  nothing  to  forfeit  freedom.  He  looked 
simply  at  his  own  interest,  and  scouted  the  monstrous 
proposition  to  give  up  a  million  of  his  people,  and 
rather  than  be  so  soft  he  would  buckle  on  his  panoply 
and  defy  the  consequences.  These  consequences 
were  terrible ;  but  once  involved  in  the  contest, 
Pharaoh's  w^as  not  the  nature  to  succumb ;  and 
although  he  could  not  hide  it  from  himself  that  a 
mighty  and  mysterious  power  had  risen  up  to  rescue 
Israel,  it  became  a  point  of  honour  to  persist,  and, 
assured  by  the  magicians  that  the  gods  of  Egypt 
were  mightier  than  the  God  of  Israel,  he  doubtless 
cherished  the  hope  that  they  would  yet  arise  to  the 
succour  of  their  champion. 

But  whilst  all  this  was  entirely  natural,  alongside 
of  it  and  underneath  it  was  a  great  deal  which  was 
immensely  wicked.  Pharaoh  was  a  proud  and  heart- 
less autocrat.     Like  another  Lucifer,  he  set  himself 


198  THE  EED  SEA. 

on  high,  in  haughty  self-sufficiency,  looking  on  all 
beneath  him  and  around  as  created  for  his  own 
aggrandizement,  and  this  made  him  at  once  defiant 
of  a  higher  power  and  disdainful  of  his  fellows.  In 
all  the  distress  which  his  obstinacy  entailed,  we  never 
detect  one  spark  of  compassion  for  his  people  ;  no 
royal  granaries  thrown  open,  no  grants  from  the 
privy  purse  to  mitigate  the  tremendous  misery ;  and 
in  keeping  with  this  sullen  apathy  towards  his  own 
Egyptians  is  his  savage  bearing  towards  the  Israelites. 
He  is  told  that  they  are  fainting  beneath  their 
burdens,  and  he  is  entreated  to  grant  a  holiday.  In- 
stead of  at  once  consenting,  as  a  good-natured  prince 
might  have  done, — "  Well,  a  week's  play  after  four 
centuries'  work  is  no  great  matter  ; "  instead  of  in- 
stituting some  inquiry,  as  a  temperate  though  cold- 
hearted  ruler  might  have  done,  Pharaoh  sends  that 
very  day  for  the  taskmasters,  and  bids  them  lay  more 
work  upon  the  people,  and  as  a  punishment  for 
complaining,  they  are  after  this  to  find  the  straw 
with  which  the  bricks  were  toughened.  And  in 
keeping  with  the  cruelty  of  the  tyrant  is  the  arro- 
gance of  the  autocrat :  "  Who  is  the  Lord,  that  I 
should  obey  his  voice  ?  I  know  not  the  Lord,  neither 
will  I  let  Israel  go."  Pharaoh  was  a  polytheist,  and 
on  his  own  principle  of  "gods  many  and  lords 
many,"  although  he  had  had  no  reason  to  believe 
that  Jehovah  was  pre-eminent  or  supreme,  he  had 


THE  RED  SEA.  199 

every  reason  to  believe  that  Jehovah  was  divine. 
On  his  own  principles  as  a  Pagan,  the  Hebrews  had 
a  God  as  well  as  he,  and  there  was  gross  impiety  in 
his  answer,  its  tone  of  supercilious  irreverence  plainly 
showing  that  if  the  demand  had  been  made  in  the 
name  of  Thoth  or  Phrah  it  would  hardly  have  pros- 
pered better.  "  Who  is  Jehovah,  that  I  should  obey 
his  voice  ? "  not  obscurely  intimating  that  in  his  own 
eyes  Pharaoh  was  himself  a  deity,  and  throwing  him 
open  to  the  answers  which  came  so  awfully  on  behalf 
of  the  Powers  Unseen,  as  well  as  on  behalf  of  Israel's 
omnipotent  Protector,  when  the  river  rolling  down 
in  blood,  when  hail  and  locust-rain  and  darkness 
palpable,  and  at  last  the  Eed  Sea's  closing  billows 
made  reply  to  the  self- idolater,  "  I  am  Jehovah." 

A  course  of  conduct  may  be  very  wrong,  and  yet 
all  its  steps  may  seem  quite  natural.  The  man  him- 
self may  see  no  alternative,  and  if  we  grant  that  he 
was  right  in  the  outset,  it  will  be  difficult  to  show 
that  the  particular  act  of  robbery  or  bloodshed  was 
so  very  far  wrong.  If  Judas  was  right  in  his  first 
principle,  that  money  is  the  one  thing  needful,  it  was 
very  natural  that  he  should  try  to  get  it  by  selling 
his  Master.  And  if  Pharaoh  was  right  in  his  first 
principle,  that  all  things  existed  for  the  sake  of  the 
king  of  Egypt,  and  that  no  one  in  heaven  or  earth 
had  any  right  to  resist  his  will,  it  is  not  wonderful 
that  he  should  have  gone  to  war  with  Jehovah. 


200  THE  RED  SEA. 

You  say  he  was  not  right.  You  say  that  in  his 
starting-point  he  was  monstrously  wrong ;  that  in 
his  first  principle  of  proud  self-idolatry  he  was  dia- 
bolically wicked.  But  alas  !  ray  friends,  it  does  not 
need  that  a  man  should  be  a  monarch  in  order  to 
repeat  the  career  of  Pharaoh.  "  Who  is  Jehovah  ? " 
says  the  voluptuary  when  urged  to  give  up  his  sinful 
pleasures ;  "  who  is  the  Lord,  that  I  should  let  my 
enjoyments  go?"  "Who  is  the  Lord,  and  who  is 
Israel  ? "  says  the  worldling  hastening  to  be  rich,  and 
who  in  his  all-absorbing  avarice  has  no  bowels  for 
his  bondmen,  no  consideration  for  their  souls  or 
bodies,  who  without  straw  are  baking  his  bricks, 
and  who  without  a  Sabbath  are  building  his  pyramid. 
"Who  is  Jehovah,  that  I  should  obey  his  voice?" 
says  the  hardened  gospel-hearer,  who  has  long 
listened  to  the  claims  of  God,  and  yet,  entrenched 
in  apathy,  holds  out,  preferring  to  be  his  own  all- 
in-all,  and  somehow  hoping  that  he  shall  be  the 
exception  to  the  rule,  and  if  the  worst  comes  to  the 
worst,  that  he  shall  be  the  sinner  saved  who  yet 
never  had  a  Saviour.  In  every  stout  and  resistfal 
spirit,  in  every  proud,  self-indulgent  nature,  there 
is  a  certain  root  of  Pharaohism;  and  unless  you 
humble  yourself  under  the  mighty  hand  of  God, 
you  will  find,  like  Pharaoh  when  at  last  he  sank 
like  lead  in  the  mighty  waters,  that  it  is  "  woe  to 
the  man  who  strives  with  his  Maker." 


THE  RED  SEA.  201 

A  great  word  is  that  word  of  God  to  Israel. 
There  they  were,  a  sea  before  them  far  wider  than 
their  familiar  Nile,  and  with  the  wild  tumult  of  its 
waters  very  terrible ;  a  sea  before  them,  and  on  their 
rear,  with  his  jingling  chargers  and  his  sounding 
chariots,  an  angry,  ruthless  king.  Unarmed  and 
unused  to  conflict,  to  face  round  and  fight  was  for 
a  flock  of  sheep  to  charge  a  pack  of  wolves  or  lions, 
and  across  that  gulf  they  had  neither  wings  to  fly 
nor  boats  to  ferry;  but  although  still  invisible,  it 
was  across  that  gulf  that  the  path  of  the  ransomed 
stretched,  and  from  God's  "  Forward"  the  veiling 
waters  fled  away,  and  revealed  the  road  which  no 
created  eye  had  seen  till  then. 

And  so  whenever  the  fiery  pillar  conducts  to 
the  water's  edge,  and  God  says,  "  Go  forward,"  the 
waves  open  and  the  weakest  pilgrim  passes  through. 
Luther,  you  are  a  fine,  genial  fellow ;  you  are  made 
to  enjoy  tliis  wonderful  world ;  don't  leave  it  by  a 
heroic  suicide.  You  are  a  father,  and  the  solace  of  a 
thousand  friends.  Not  a  rootless  stick  or  a  rigid 
palisade,  like  these  heartless,  homeless,  dehumanized 
monks,  you  are  a  green  tree  with  roots  in  all  our 
hearts ;  by  wilful  self-destruction  don't  dash  to  the 
earth  so  many  nests  and  wound  us  all.  But  he  is 
resolute.  "  Here  I  stand ;  I  cannot  retract,  so  help 
me  God."  It  is  the  edge  of  the  Eed  Sea,  the  very 
point  to  which  the  guiding  pillar  has  brought  him, 


202  THE  EED  SEA. 

and,  like  the  pursuing  Egyptians,  the  Eomish  myr- 
midons have  closed  upon  him,  and  ramp  and  ravin 
for  his  blood.  But  just  as  they  are  about  to  clutch 
their  prey  the  sea  sunders,  their  host  is  troubled,  and 
as  the  waters  stand  up  a  wall  on  either  hand,  with 
conscience  clean,  with  honour  saved,  with  the  gospel 
uncompromised,  the  Eeformer  passes  through. 

The  like  does  not  happen  to  every  one,  yet  some- 
thing of  the  sort  may  chance  to  you.  Following 
your  guide,  shut  up  by  the  events  of  Providence, 
and  actmg  under  the  dictates  of  religious  principle, 
you  have  reached  the  edge  of  your  Eed  Sea.  The 
compliance  pressed  upon  you  would  hurt  your  con- 
science ;  the  match  which  they  wish  you  to  make 
has  every  advantage, — wealth,  position,  prospects; 
the  only  drawback  is,  the  man 's  a  profligate.  The 
situation  you  are  about  to  lose  is  lucrative,  and  it 
would  be  entirely  to  your  liking,  but  the  condition 
affixed  to  your  retaining  it  is  immoral :  you  must 
act,  or  utter  fraud  and  falsehood.  The  trial  is  very 
terrible,  but  right  above  the  flood  hangs  the  un- 
changing oracle,  "  What  shall  it  profit  ?  Be  not  un- 
equally yoked,"  and  you  must  forward,  for  behind 
you  hear  a  voice,  which,  pointing  to  that  flood, 
says,  "  This  is  the  way,  walk  ye  in  it." 

However,  there  is  one  crisis  in  every  history  when 
faith  is  tried,  and  when  all  the  courage  is  needed 
which  can  be  derived  from  God's  "  Go  forward." 


THE  RED  SEA.  203 

The  sea  I  speak  of  we  have  all  to  cross.  Some  try 
to  forget  it,  and  to  some,  through  grace,  it  has  ceased 
to  be  formidable,  whilst  to  others  still  it  has  a  pain- 
ful fascination.  You  cannot  forget  what  lies  before 
you,  and  you  have  not  ceased  to  fear  it ;  you  cannot 
help  going  down  to  the  water's  brink  from  time  to 
time,  and  taking  along  the  strand  a  pensive  medita- 
tive stroll,  and  almost  pitying  yourself  because  you 
must  some  day  pass  over.  "  0  thou  flood  of  sorrow  ! 
wherefore  is  it  that  thou  still  dost  flow  betwixt 
myself  and  Immanuel's  land  ?  Dark  waters  !  I  do 
not  like  your  look.  I  shudder  at  the  thought  that 
I  must  one  day  face  round  and  turn  my  footsteps 
towards  your  tide.  I  wonder  whether  there  will  be 
a  swell  on  your  surface,  or  a  great  calm  that  day. 
I  wonder  what  all  I  shall  see  in  your  mysterious 
unreported  caverns ;  and,  above  all,  I  wonder  if  I 
shall  make  good  my  landing  on  the  farther  side.  I 
sometimes  fear  that  my  faith  shall  fail."  But 
although  it  is  appointed  to  all  men  once  to  die,  we 
doubt  if  such  rehearsals  of  a  dying  hour  are  needful. 
We  are  inclined  to  think  that  the  best  preparation 
for  that  Eed  Sea  passage  is  to  follow,  on  these  un- 
flooded  plains  of  life — on  the  terra  firma  of  daily 
duty,  the  fiery- cloudy  pillar.  In  order  to  lose  the 
dread  of  death,  do  you  learn  to  place  confidence  in 
Christ  ?  learn  to  think  of  Him  trustfully  and  affec- 
tionately now,  for,  as  the  Angel  of  God's  presence, 


204  THE  RED  SEA. 

as  tlie  very  soul  of  the  Bible,  as  the  bright  eye  ever- 
beaming  from  the  cloud  of  witnesses,  the  expressed 
mind  of  Christ  is  ever  with  you  in  the  volume  of 
the  Book ;  His  power  and  love  are  around  your  path 
in  His  ubiquitous  never-absent  Godhead.  Depend 
upon  it,  if  thus  in  frequent  recollection  and  daily 
prayer  you  press  up  into  Christ's  friendship,  these 
remoter  anxieties  will  dwindle  or  disappear.  That 
same  Saviour  of  whose  mediation  you  feel  the  need 
when  you  bend  the  knee  to  confess  your  sin  and 
ask  forgiveness,  will  not  be  more  remote  when  you 
bow  the  head  and  give  up  the  ghost,  and  with  as 
little  sense  of  effort  then  as  now  He  will  tell  you, 
"  I  am  the  way  :  no  man  cometh  to  the  Father  but 
by  me."  This  is  the  way,  walk  in  it.  And  although 
it  is  already  the  once- dreaded  passage,  you  will 
hardly  be  aware,  for  to  you  it  is  as  much  dry  land 
as  ever,  although  on  either  side  "  the  waters  great 
do  swell  up  to  the  brim ;"  and  although  from  the 
verge  tearful  eyes  follow  you  as  you  pass  down  into 
the  dim  and  mysterious  valley,  these  waters  shall 
not  overwhelm  your  soul,  and  you  will  only  know 
that  it  is  the  Eed  Sea  you  have  crossed  by  seeing  no 
more  of  your  old  enemies,  temptations,  infirmities, 
and  strongly  besetting  sins.  Those  Egyptians  whom 
you  see  to-day,  take  a  good  look  of  them,  for  after 
that  you  will  see  them  no  more  for  ever. 

At  which  rate  it  is  no  tame  application  of  the 
text,  it  is  no  degradation  of  the  Divine  watchword, 


THE  RED  SEA.  205 

if,  on  tliis  thanksgiving  Sabbath  after  the  Com- 
munion, we  pass  it  round  as  our  motto,  and  say  to 
one  another,  Go  forward  !  Go  forward  in  faith  and 
holiness,  in  activity  and  zeal ;  go  forward  in  brotherly 
kindness  and  charity,  in  devotion  and  self-denial; 
go  forward  in  the  self-knowledge  which  destroys 
confidence  in  the  flesh ;  go  forward  in  the  courage 
which  waxes  strong  in  Christ  Jesus  ;  go  forward  in 
the  humility  which,  conscious  of  unworthiness,  still 
high  -hearted  and  hopeful,  seeks  the  things  above ; 
and  forward  in  that  seriousness  which,  taking  truer 
views  of  life  and  its  outgoings,  has  also  joys  and 
consolations  unguessed  by  carnal  levity.  Go  for- 
ward !  for  in  the  van  are  the  bravest  and  the  best ; 
go  forward,  for  the  guiding  pillar  is  far  before,  so 
far  before  that  the  Bible  is  sometimes  like  to  get 
out  of  our  sight  altogether ;  go  forward,  for  the  Fore- 
runner has  passed  ahead,  and  they  are  the  happiest 
pilgrims  who  so  far  can  overtake  as  to  pursue  their 
course  "  looking  unto  Jesus."  Go  forward  !  for  the 
best  accommodations  and  refreshments  await  those 
who  are  farthest  in  advance ;  and  "  from  strength 
still  onward  unto  strength,"  their  burdens  are  the 
lightest  and  their  difiiculties  the  fewest,  who,  "  for- 
getting the  things  that  are  behind,"  evermore  "press 
forward," — forward  on  the  way  where  the  guiding 
pillar  precedes,  "  to  the  prize  of  our  high  calling," 
even  the  place  which  Christ  has  prepared. 


XIII. 

*'  Moses  cried  unto  the  Lord,  and  the  Lord  shewed  him  a  tree,  which 
when  he  had  cast  into  the  waters  [of  Marah],  the  waters  were 
made  sweet."— Ex.  xv.  25. 

The  Red  Sea  is  crossed,  the  Egyptians  are 
drowned,  and  that  most  ancient  as  well  as  most 
magnificent  song  of  triumph  has  been  sung, — a 
song  so  sublime  that  we  purposely  postpone  expo- 
sition ;  in  its  spirit  and  its  circumstances  so  sublime 
that  even  Revelation  offers  no  other  entirely  par- 
allel, and  its  companion  and  counterpart  is  only 
known  to  those  who  along  with  "the  Song  of 
Moses  the  servant  of  God"  sing  also  "the  Song  of 
the  Lamb." 

It  was  a  great  deliverance,  and  the  people  felt  it 
deeply.  Perhaps  there  never  was  a  gush  of  purer 
gratitude  than  poured  from  the  lips  of  all  that 
million  as  Miriam's  timbrel  led  the  dance ;  and  as 
one  after  another  the  swell  bore  helpless  to  their 
feet  the  steed  in  gorgeous  housings  or  his  stiff  and 
stalwart  master,  the  exultation  leaped  up  anew,  and 
the  shout,  "  Sing  to  the  Lord,  for  he  hath  triumphed 


MAEAH.  207 

gloriously :  the  horse  and  his  rider  hath  he  thrown 
into  the  sea."  They  were  a  people  near  to  God. 
They  felt  as  if  they  were  entirely  in  His  hand, — 
the  people  whom  He  had  purchased,  and  whom  He 
designed  to  plant  in  the  mountain  of  His  holiness. 
And  if  it  could  have  been  put  to  them,  ''  After  this 
will  you  ever  doubt  God's  power  or  providence  ? — 
will  you  ever  wish  that  you  had  another  God  or 
were  your  own  masters  ? " — they  would  have  replied 
in  one  unanimous  outburst,  "The  Lord  is  my 
strength  and  my  salvation  :  He  is  my  God,  and 
shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever." 

But  a  little  week  is  hardly  past,  they  have  only 
gone  three  days  into  the  desert  when  the  Eed  Sea 
minstrels  are  changed  into  mutineers  and  mur- 
murers;  and  as  soon  as  their  first  grievance  is 
remedied  they  find  a  new  hardship  and  a  fresh 
occasion  for  despair,  and  for  charging  God  and  His 
servant  foolishly.  It  is  no  longer,  "  The  Lord  is  my 
strength,"  but  "  What  shall  we  drink  ? "  It  is  no 
longer,  "  Thou,  Lord,  in  thy  mercy  hast  led  forth 
the  people  which  thou  hast  redeemed,"  but  "  Would 
God  we  had  died  when  we  sat  by  the  flesh-pots ! 
for  ye  have  brought  us  forth  into  this  wilderness,  to 
kill  us  with  hunger." 

At  first  sight  this  looks  fearfully  ungrateful  and 
monstrously  fickle,  and  we  are  apt  to  praise  our- 
selves obliquely, — we  are  apt  to  get  up  a  little  sly 


208  MAR  AH. 

self-complacency  by  bearing  hard  on  the  perversity 
of  Israel.  But  if  we  would  judge  righteous  judg- 
ment, we  must  advert  to  the  actual  facts  of  the  case. 
To  begin  with,  was  there  not  a  real  hardship  ? 
Few  of  us  can  enter  into  it,  for  few  of  us  in  health 
have  gone  without  food  for  so  much  as  four-and- 
twenty  hours  together,  and  the  sensation  we  call 
thirst  is  no  more  like  the  mad  and  raging  fever  of 
the  desert  than  our  cool  and  verdant  plains  are  like 
the  baked  and  blistering  rocks  of  that  burning 
wilderness.  This  was  their  predicament.  After 
marching  three  days  through  dust  and  fiery  drought 
they  came  on  wells  clear  and  limpid-looking ;  but  the 
moment  they  put  the  water  to  their  lips  it  was 
poison.  What  wonder  if  they  uttered  a  great  cry 
of  disappointment  and  horror  !  After  a  month's 
absence  from  Egypt  they  were  no  nearer  the  land 
of  their  hope  than  when  they  first  set  forth,  and  to 
aggravate  the  trial  their  provisions  were  spent. 
The  supplies  which  seemed  so  ample  on  the  15th 
of  Abib  were  exhausted  by  the  15th  of  Zif ;  and 
was  it  no  hardship  to  be  obliged  to  slaughter  the 
flocks  and  herds  with  which  they  had  intended  to 
stock  their  expected  farms  ? — was  it  no  hardship 
to  feel  their  own  strength  decaying,  and  to  see  their 
children  coming  round  them  with  sunken  eyes  and 
liollow  cheeks,  and  crying  for  that  bread  which  they 
no  longer  had  to  give  ? 


MAEAH.  209 

It  is  easy  to  swim  on  dry  land ;  it  is  easy  to  be  a 
Samson  as  long  as  the  Philistines  are  only  phantoms 
in  the  air;  but  "  judge  not  that  ye  be  not  judged." 
Have  you  ever  tried  to  go  through  your  daily  task 
with  a  throbbing,  bursting  brain,  or  even  with  an 
aching  tooth  ?  Have  you  tried  against  all- comers  to 
keep  your  temper?  When  worn  with  successive 
nights  of  wakefulness  or  watching,  have  you  tried 
to  stay  your  soul  on  God,  and  hold  forth  a  sunny 
face  all  day  ?  Or,  when  the  balance  hung  betwixt  a 
loved  one's  life  and  death,  have  you  tried  to  say, 
"  Thy  will  be  done?"  If  so,  you  will  judge  in  the 
spirit  of  meekness  even  the  poor  mourning  Israelites, 
lest  thou  also  be  tempted. 

Another  consideration  is,  they  were  new  to  it. 
True,  their  life  in  Egypt  was  hard  enough;  but  it 
was  not  the*  best  preparative  for  this  kind  of  ex- 
perience. As  slaves,  they  were  abject,  resourceless, 
spiritless ;  they  had  no  long  look  forward ;  they 
lived  within  the  day.  If  the  flesh-pot  was  full  they 
had  no  further  wants,  because  no  higher  hopes,  or  at 
least  they  found  it  better  to  have  none.  And  you 
know  very  weU.  the  worth  of  a  mainspring,  the 
value  of  some  motive  sufficiently  persistent  and 
powerful.  Hence  it  is  that,  accustomed  to  refined 
society  and  elevated  pursuits,  a  Park  or  a  Clapper- 
ton  does  not  grudge  to  spend  years  in  dreary  wastes 
and  among  treacherous  savages,  for  the  solution  of 

0 


210  MAKAH. 

scientific  problems  and  the  extension  of  the  bounds 
of  knowledge,  is  the  hope  set  before  him ;  hence  it 
is  that,  in  the  heroism  of  humanity,  a  Kane  or  a 
M'Clintock  braves  the  rigours  of  a  hyperborean 
winter,  and,  sustained  by  the  hope  of  bringing  suc- 
cour to  those  that  are  ready  to  perish,  takes  joyfully 
the  blast  which,  without  this  hope,  would  freeze 
within  the  bones  the  marrow ;  hence  it  is  that,  in 
the  dreary  trench,  amidst  the  drifting  snow,  the 
high-bred  noble  and  the  peasant  soldier  alike  bear 
up,  remembering  that  God  and  England  expect  from 
them  their  duty ;  and  hence  it  is  that  an  Eliot,  a 
Zinzendorf,  a  Jadson,  constrained  by  the  love  of 
Christ,  and  striving  to  speed  the  day  when  His 
saving  name  shall  be  everywhere  renowned,  can 
face  without  a  fear  the  heathen  clamouring  for  their 
blood,  and  can  sing  psalms  in  the  death-prison. 

But  although  the  Hebrews  had  a  hope  set  before 
them,  it  was  new  to  them,  and  they  had  not  learned 
to  live  upon  it.  Although  they  had  found  a  God, 
even  He  was  new  to  them,  and  they  could  only  trust 
Him  when  His  eye  was  visibly  upon  them,  and  His 
arm  sensibly  around  them.  I^escued  at  a  rush,  carried 
through  the  Eed  Sea  in  a  mass,  all  saved  at  the  self- 
same moment,  they  were  a  nation  born  in  one  night ; 
and  whilst  this  made  them  so  far  the  more  signal 
trophies  of  God's  goodness,  it  also  conspired  with 
outward  influences  to  give  to  their  moods  of  mind  a 


MARAH.  211 

peculiar  sympathy  or  simultaneousness.  They  were 
twins  a  million  times  repeated,  and  in  the  close 
contiguity  of  their  camp  their  feelings  flowed  and 
ebbed  together ;  and  although  a  Caleb  or  a  Joshua, 
or  some  rare  spirit,  might  retain  his  steadfastness,  it 
was  difficult  to  resist  the  contagious  ardour  or  de- 
pression, and  the  narrative  proceeds  as  if  all  mur- 
mured or  rejoiced  together.  "  The  people  murmur- 
ed," "  the  children  of  Israel  murmured,"  "  the  whole 
congregation  murmured  against  Moses  and  Aaron." 

There  is  another  remark  which  we  would  here 
interpose,  and  it  applies  to  several  of  the  miracles 
here  recorded.  A  frequent  attempt  has  been  made 
to  reduce  them  to  incidents,  which,  although  sur- 
prising, were  not  supernatural.  For  instance  :  there 
is  still  found  in  the  midsummer  months  in  that 
peninsula  of  Sinai  a  substance  now  called  manna. 
It  is  a  sweet,  gummy  exudation  from  the  Alhagi,  the 
tarfah  or  tamarisk,  and  other  plants,  produced  by 
the  puncture  of  an  insect ;  and  it  is  either  scraped 
from  the  leaves,  or  gathered  up  where  its  drops  have 
trickled  down  to  the  ground ;  and  many  travellers 
and  interpreters  have  pronounced  this  to  be  the 
manna  or  "  bread  from  heaven"  on  which  the 
Israelites  subsisted  for  forty  years  in  the  desert. 
If  so,  the  miracle  is  not  much  diminished,  for  the 
entire  crop  of  tree-manna  in  the  Sinai  peninsula 
amounts  only  to  six  or  seven  hundred  pounds  weight 


212  MARAH. 

each  year,  which  to  the  Israelites  would  have  been 
at  the  rate  of  the  hundredth  part  of  a  grain  to  each 
person  per  day.  But  the  tree-manna  has  none  of 
the  properties  mentioned  by  Moses  except  the  size 
and  the  sweetness.  It  is  not  perennial.  It  is  not 
found  at  all  seasons,  but  is  restricted  to  the  mid- 
summer months ;  and  far  from  being  available  for 
forty  years  successive,  there  are  years  when  there 
is  none  of  it.  It  does  not  on  the  sixth  day  exude 
in  double  quantity,  and  entirely  intermit  on  the 
seventh,  and  far  from  having  any  propensity  to 
putrefy,  if  kept  all  right,  few  things  keep  better. 
Nor  do  we  suppose  that  any  straightforward  un- 
sophisticated reader  would  draw  any  other  conclu- 
sion from  the  narrative  of  Moses,  and  the  allusions 
to  that  narrative  in  the  Psalms  and  New  Testament, 
than  that  it  was  a  miraculous  table  which  was 
spread  for  Israel  in  the  desert,  and  that  they  were 
fed  in  a  way  unwonted  from  God's  own  garner. 

At  the  same  time,  there  is  a  principle  applicable 
to  many  miracles  on  which  we  would  gladly  dwell 
if  an  occasion  like  this  permitted.  Miracles  are  no 
violations  of  the  laws  of  nature — thereby  meaning 
the  laws  of  God — the  principles  on  which  the  Most 
High  conducts  His  own  procedure.  Although  to 
our  experience  they  are  rare  and  exceptional,  they 
are  neither  efforts  to  Omnipotence,  nor  are  they 
episodes  and  interruptions   in   the   scheme  of  the 


MAEAH.  2 1  3 

■unchanging  I  am.  They  are  the  evolutions  of  a 
higher  law,  which  for  the  moment  seems  to  set 
aside  or  supersede  the  common  law,  the  ordinary 
course  of  Providence  ;  but,  as  we  might  expect  from 
their  majestic  Author,  these  miracles  are  no  mere 
whimsies  or  vagaries,  no  monstrous  portents  or  idle 
prodigies  such  as  Eastern  imagination  has  delighted 
to  invent,  but  the  signs  and  wonders  of  One  who  is 
wise  in  counsel  and  excellent  in  working — signs 
which  in  a  moment  transport  us  into  the  presence- 
chamber  of  Omnipotence,  but  wonders  which  are 
wonderfully  marked  by  the  same  wisdom,  goodness, 
holiness,  of  which  we  have  examples  in  His  familiar 
well-known  ongoings. 

Hence  in  miany  miracles  we  are  not  surprised  to 
find  the  reappearance  on  a  scale  of  sudden  expansion 
or  enlargement  of  facts  or  principles  with  which  we 
have  long  been  conversant.  The  letters  are  on  a 
gigantic  scale,  or  as  they  run  along  the  wall  they 
float  and  flicker  with  a  dazzling  light ;  and  yet  in 
a  moment  we  recognise  the  self-same  handwriting, 
— the  autograph  inimitable,  unmistakable,  which 
we  have  all  along  beheld  growing  in  the  grass  or 
projecting  its  revelations  on  pages  of  the  Bible. 

In  virtue  of  this  Divine  self- consistency  there  is 
often  what  we  would  call  a  natural  element  in  the 
most  supernatural  interposition ;  and  so  far  from 
lessening   the   value   of  the   miracle,   does   it   not 


214  MARAH. 

impart  to  it  new  beauty  and  significance  ?  Not  to 
say  that  there  is  no  waste  of  the  wonderful,  is  it  not 
worthy  of  the  Most  High  that  by  accelerating  His 
own  processes,  or  making  new  uses  of  His  own 
creatures,  He  should  exhibit  effects  which  in  any 
hand  but  His,  these  processes,  these  creatures, 
would  be  powerless  to  display  ?  and  in  that  bound- 
less diversity  which  marks  His  manifestations, 
whether  ordinary  or  extraordinary,  who  shall  say 
which  is  the  most  Divine,  the  miracle  where  the 
whole  springs  forth  direct,  startling  and  stupendous, 
from  a  simple  fiat ;  or  the  other,  where  there  exists 
a  germ  already  in  some  familiar  phenomenon, — a 
phenomenon,  however,  which  by  virtue  coming  fortli 
from  God  suddenly  expands  into  dimensions  con- 
fessedly Divine?  Was  it  not  a  miracle,  when  to 
the  whelming  billows  Jesus  said,  "  Peace,  be  still ! " 
and  by  that  word,  creating  an  instant  calm,  He 
saved  the  drowning  mariners  ?  But  when  just  at 
the  moment  an  angry  king  was  about  to  grasp  the 
fugitives, — when  just  at  that  moment  God  made  an 
east  wind  to  blow,  and  split  a  passage  through  the 
flood,  walling  it  up  on  either  hand,  was  there 
nothing  supernatural  in  the  opportuneness  of  the 
breeze,  nothing  supernatural  in  its  unprecedented 
power  ?  When  to  the  barren  fig-tree  Jesus  said, 
"  Henceforth  no  fruit  grow  on  thee  for  ever,"  no 
hail-storm  fell,  no  caterpillar  came,  but  feeling  at 


MAEAH.  215 

its  heart  the  awful  word,  instantly  withered  away, 
the  conscious  cumber-ground.  But  is  it  less  than 
supernatural  and  divine  wdien  to  the  tyrant  it  is 
said,  "Let  my  people  go,  or  to-morrow  about  this 
time  expect  a  grievous  hail,"  and  to-morrow  at  that 
time  the  icy  shrapnell — the  hurtling  hail- shower 
— pounds  into  the  earth  the  sprouting  corn,  and 
shatters  every  tree?  That  hail,  is  it  not  the  hand  of 
God  ?  that  east  wind,  is  it  not  His  breath  ?  and  in 
wielding  either  at  the  moment,  and  for  the  special 
end,  was  there  not  the  same  omnipotence  as  went 
forth  in  the  word,  the  mere  will  expressed  of  Jesus  ? 
Coming  to  the  case  in  hand,  we  are  extremely 
interested  to  learn  that  a  pearly- looking  substance, 
suggestive  of  honey,  is  still  found  in  that  Arabian 
wilderness  ;  for  although  it  cannot  account  for  the 
miracle,  it  accounts  for  the  key-note  on  wdiich  that 
"miracle  was  pitched.  I^ow  that  He  was  about  to 
feed  His  famished  children  with  supplies  straight 
from  His  own  storehouse,  the  Most  High  selected  a 
substance  congruous  to  the  place  and  in  keeping 
with  their  circumstances.  In  the  bare  and  burning 
desert  He  did  not  cause  to  spring  such  rice- crops  as 
they  had  left  in  the  deep  inundated  soil  of  Egypt, 
nor  did  He  perplex  them  by  raining  all  around 
them  what  they  would  not  have  understood, — the 
ready-made  loaves,  the  bread-fruits  of  the  then 
unknown  Southern  Isles ;  but  selecting  a  palatable 


216  MAE  AH. 

product  of  the  place,  or  a  substance  near  akin,  to 
these  pensioners  at  Heaven's  gate,  the  Great  Almoner 
gave  what  was  none  the  less  Heaven's  bread,  because 
a  sample  somewhat  like  it  was  indigenous, — all  the 
more  truly  Heaven's  bread,  because  the  existence  of 
that  other  showed  how  well  adapted  it  was  for  desert 
pilgrims.  And  just  as  the  Lord  Jesus,  when  about 
to  feed  five  thousand  hungry  guests,  as  He  did  not 
fling  away  the  five  loaves  which  were  actually  forth- 
coming, but  used  them  as  the  starting-point  or  key- 
note of  His  miracle,  multiplying  them  a  thousandfold, 
— so  when  about  to  feed  His  million  guests  for  forty 
years,  Jehovah  did  not  ignore  the  handful  of  meal 
already  in  the  barrel,  the  few  drops  which  already 
trickled  from  the  tarfah-trees,  but  multiplying  the 
supply  a  hundred-thousandfold;  instead  of  a  mere 
taste  of  honey-dew ;  instead  of  a  few  tiny  and 
tantalizing  particles,  with  Divine  profusion  He 
emptied  a  whole  garner  over  them  every  night,  and 
scattered  it  round  their  tents  thick  as  snow  on 
Salmon. 

These  little  links  are  valuable.  Eightly  regarded 
they  do  not  make  the  supernatural  less  wonderful, 
but  they  make  it  more  instructive  and  more  inter- 
esting. They  afford  a  revelation  of  God's  character 
whilst  letting  forth  a  coruscation  of  His  power ;  and 
they  are  gentle  inclines  by  which  from  the  level  of 
every  day  we  may  ascend  towards  the  throne  of  an 


MARAH.  217 

ever-wakeful,  ever-working  Omnipotence, — gang- 
ways or  bridges  by  which  our  feeble  steps  may 
cross  over  from  the  frail  barque  of  our  own  exist- 
ence— circumscribed,  mist-bounded — to  the  ever- 
adjacent  mainland  of  the  infinite  and  the  eternal. 

This  principle  we  have  little  hesitation  in  ex- 
tending to  Marah  and  the  sweetening  of  its  waters. 
It  is  quite  true,  as  Professor  Johnston  and  others 
have  shown,  that  some  kinds  of  water,  brackish  or 
bitter,  may  be  rendered  drinkable  by  steeping  in 
them  certain  woods  or  berries;  and  there  is  a  legend 
that  the  waters  of  China  were  so  bad  that  the 
people  could  not  drink  till  a  certain  sage  pointed 
out  a  little  tree  whose  well-known  leaves  many  of 
us  consider  an  improvement  to  even  the  best  of 
water.  But  we  cannot  help  feeling  that  in  a  con- 
text like  this  we  must  rise  higher  than  any  such 
rationalistic  rendering  of  the  incident ;  for  even  if 
any  plant  efficacious  for  such  purposes  had  grown 
in  the  region — as  several  recent  travellers  strenu- 
ously deny, — its  virtues  were  unknown  to  Moses  till 
the  Lord  revealed  them,  and  even  after  that  they 
must  have  been  singularly  enhanced  in  order  to 
supply  to  such  a  multitude  a  pure  and  potable 
beverage.  "  The  Lord  showed  unto  Moses  a  tree, 
which  when  he  had  cast  into  the  waters,  the  waters 
were  made  sweet ;"  and  the  supernatural  character 
of  the  occurrence  comes  out  more  strikingly  in  that 


218  MARAH. 

standing  promise,  that  "statute  and  ordinance"  by 
which  it  was  followed  :  "  If  thou  wilt  diligently 
hearken  to  the  voice  of  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  w^ilt 
do  that  which  is  right  in  His  sight,  and  wilt  give 
ear  to  His  commandments,  and  keep  all  His  statutes, 
I  will  put  none  of  these  diseases  upon  thee,  which  I 
have  brought  upon  the  Egyptians  :  for  I  am  the 
Lord  that  healeth  thee."  As  much  as  to  say,  "  My 
dealings  with  Israel  shall  be  the  converse  of  My 
dealings  with  Egypt.  They  were  resistful  and 
rebellious,  and  I  sent  them  punishments  and 
plagues  :  but  if  you  be  diligent  and  docile,  I  will 
heal  and  comfort  you.  And  accept  the  earnest : 
behold  the  sign.  As  my  wonders  in  the  field  of 
Zoan  began  by  turning  into  blood  the  delicious 
waters  of  the  Nile,  so  my  wonders  in  the  wilderness 
begin  by  turning  into  sweetness  the  bitter  springs 
of  Marah.  Jehovah  Eophi :  I  am  the  Lord  who 
healeth  you. 

Surely  there  was  a  lesson  w^hich,  running  to  these 
waters,  Israel  read,  and  which  it  would  be  a  pity  if 
it  were  lost  on  us. 

In  itself  water  is  one  of  the  best  of  things.  Pure, 
cool,  pellucid,  it  is  the  good  gift  of  God, — a  cup  of 
cold  water  the  very  emblem  of  unmingled  blessing. 
And  as  it  comes  from  heaven,  it  is  always  clear 
and  uncontaminated ;  it  is  only  in  earth's  reservoirs 
that  it  sometimes  gets  muddied,  and  sometimes  even 


MAEAH.  219 

poisoned.  There  are  salts  of  copper  in  the  soil 
through  which  the  current  percolates ;  the  man- 
chineel  has  shed  its  deadly  fruits  into  the  fountain, 
or  an  enemy  has  passed  this  way  and  drugged  the 
wells. 

Books,  leisure,  learning,  friends,  and  children, — 
wealth,  accommodations, — the  beautiful  in  nature,  the 
exquisite  in  art,  are  all  the  gift  of  God,  and  as  they 
come  from  God  they  are  all  pure  and  unalloyed  :  If 
the  cup  which  catches  the  morning  dew  itself  were 
clear  as  crystal, — if  the  pool  that  receives  the  rain 
had  nothing  miry  or  deleterious  in  it,  good  and  pure 
would  the  gifts  remain.  But  alas  !  too  often  it  is  a 
bad  and  bitter  soil, — a  proud  and  selfish  spirit,  a 
morose  and  murmuring  heart,  a  godless,  and  so  a 
hopeless,  joyless  mind,  into  which  the  mercy  comes, 
and  when  the  moment  arrives  that  the  happy  pos- 
sessor should  drink  and  be  refreshed,  he  turns  away 
disgusted.  "What 's  the  matter  with  the  well  ?  It 
looks  clear  enough.  What's  the  matter  with  the 
man  ?  He  has  a  good  house,  an  ample  income,  a 
fine  family  ;  but  the  curl  of  contempt,  the  wrinkles 
of  unrest  on  his  countenance,  the  'vanitas  vani- 
tatum'  in  his  tones,  proclaim  dissatisfaction  and 
discontent.  What 's  the  matter  ?  Don't  you  know  ? 
The  water  was  good  enough  till  once  it  came  there  : 
but  here  the  soil  is  Marah.  It  is  the  bitter  soil 
that  makes  the  bitter  fountain  ;  and  you  must  give 


220  MARAH. 

the  man  a  better  heart, — more  humble,  more  thank- 
ful, more  genial,  more  devout, — in  order  that  he 
may  get  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  good  and  perfect 
gifts  which  God  bestows."  It  must,  however,  be 
admitted  that  besides  the  Marah  within  there  are 
bitter  fountains  to  which  God  in  His  providence 
sometimes  conducts  His  people.  That  is  to  say,  in 
their  way  to  the  better  country,  God  sometimes 
sends  His  people  trials  where  they  looked  for  bless- 
ings. A  child  dearly  loved  and  doated  upon  is 
taken  away.  Another  is  spared  to  turn  out  neither 
a  credit  nor  a  comfort.  A  beloved  relative  is  laid 
aside  by  lingering  sickness,  or  is  banished  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth,  or  is  still  more  mournfully 
secluded  from  your  society  by  the  great  gulf  of  an 
imagined  Avrong,  a  wounded  spirit,  or  a  mind 
diseased.  Or  after  a  toilsome  tramp  through  the 
desert  you  have  attained  the  oasis  :  you  have  made 
your  modest  competence,  and  in  this  rosy  little 
hermitage  you  hope  to  spend  life's  evening  quietly 
and  not  uselessly,  when,  lo  and  behold !  your  sight 
is  failing,  or  the  power  of  locomotion  is  withdrawn, 
or  some  incipient  malady  gives  warning  that  to 
suffer  will  henceforth  be  a  main  part  of  your  voca- 
tion. 

What  ever  shall  you  do  ?  Whom  shall  you 
imitate  ?  the  multitude  or  Moses  ?  Moses  was  as 
much   disappointed   as  the  people,  for  he  was  as 


MARAH.  221 

parched  and  faint  as  they  ;  but  whilst  they  mur- 
mured, he  cried  to  God.  And  so,  if  wise,  will  you. 
Cry  to  God.  There  is  a  remedy !  There  is  that  at 
hand  which,  if  you  knew  it,  would  make  all  right 
again,  and  the  Lord  can  easily  show  you  what  it  is. 
Perhaps  he  may  bid  you  move  forward  another 
stage,  for  at  Elim  there  are  palm-trees  and  pure 
water  in  plenty.  But  most  likely  He  will  put  you 
on  a  plan  for  sweetening  those  mercies  which  are 
for  the  present  embittered.  His  name  is  the  Lord 
the  Healer.  If  you  be  diligent  and  docile,  if  you 
hearken  to  His  voice,  and  do  that  which  is  right  in 
His  sight.  He  will  make  all  things  work  together 
for  your  good;  and  by  the  tender  sympathy  He 
raises  up,  by  the  timely  help  He  sends,  by  the 
gentle  sustaining  of  His  own  spirit  inwardly,  He 
can  work  such  a  change  on  Marah  that  where 
once  you  stood  aghast  in  horrible  surprise,  you 
can  now  stoop  down  and  as  you  drink  abund- 
antly shall  wonder  to  find  that  it  is  no  longer 
bitter. 

"  For  there's  a  wonder --workiog  wood, 
I've  heard  believers  say, 
Can  make  these  bitter  waters  good 
And  take  the  curse  away. 

The  Cross  on  which  the  Saviour  died 

And  conquer'd  for  His  saints, 
This  is  the  tree,  by  faith  api)lied, 

Which  sweetens  all  complaints. 


222  MAUAH. 

Thousands  have  found  the  bless'd  efifect, 
Nor  longer  mourn  their  lot ; 

While  on  His  sorrows  they  reflect 
Their  own  are  all  forgot. 

When  they  by  faith  behold  the  cross, 
Though  many  griefs  they  meet, 

They  draw  a  gain  from  every  loss 
And  find  the  bitter  sweet." 


XIV. 

MnxmxxvB. 

"  And  Moses  and  Aaron  said  unto  all  tlie  children  of  Israel,  At  even, 
then  ye  shall  know  that  the  Lord  hath  brought  yon  out  from  the. 
land  of  Egypt :  and  in  the  morning,  then  ;^e  shall  see  the  glory 
of  the  Lord  ;  for  that  he  heareth  your  murmurings  against  the 
Lord  :  and  what  are  we,  that  ye  murmur  against  us  ?  And 
Moses  said,  This  shall  be,  when  the  Lord  shall  give  you  in  the 
evening  flesh  to  eat,  and  in  the  morning  bread  to  the  full ;  for 
that  the  Lord  heareth  your  murmurings  which  ye  murmur  against 
him  :  and  what  are  we  ?  your  murmurings  are  not  against  us, 
but  against  the  Lord."— Ex,  xvi.  6-8. 

Murmuring  !  It  must  have  been  a  malady 
characteristic  of  the  Hebrew  people,  or  a  disease 
peculiar  to  that  desert.  As  we  proceed  with  this 
narrative  we  are  constantly  meeting  it,  creaking 
along:  in  discord  harsh  and  chronic,  or  amazing 
earth  and  heaven  by  its  shrill,  ear-piercing  par- 
oxysms. They  lift  up  their  eyes,  and  as  the  Egyp- 
tians pursue,  the  people  murmur.  They  come  to  a 
fountain,  the  water  is  bitter,  and  once  more  they 
murmur.  Then  there  is  no  water  at  all,  and  of 
course  they  murmur.  Then  no  bread,  murmur- 
ings renewed.  Next  bread  without  flesh ;  mur- 
murings redoubled.     Moses  is  long  in  the  Mount ; 

223 


224  MURMUKS. 

murmurs.  He  takes  too  mucli  upon  him ;  more 
murmurs.  When  shall  we  reach  that  promised 
land  ? — murmurs  extraordinary,  loud  miu^murs.  We 
are  close  to  the  land,  but  its  inhabitants  are  giants, 
and  their  towns  walled  up  to  heaven.  Oh,  what  a 
take-in !  and  the  last  breath  of  the  last  survivors  of 
that  querulous  race  goes  forth  in  a  hurricane  of 
reproach  and  remonstrance— a  perfect  storm  of 
murmurs. 

What  a  good  thing  that  the  race  is  exterminated ! 
Was  it  not  fortunate  that  all  their  carcases  fell  in 
the  wilderness  ?  Would  it  not  have  been  a  great 
pity  if  any  of  that  root  of  bitterness  had  found  its 
way  into  the  goodly  land,  so  as  to  infest  with  its 
cleaving  burrs  and  envenomed  spines  the  pleasant 
fields  of  Palestine  ? 

But  are  you  sure  ?  This  weed  so  noxious,  has  it 
really  gone  into  the  fossil  flora  ? — this  vice  so  hate- 
ful, is  it  utterly  extinct  and  only  known  amongst 
the  crimes  of  history?  Then  why  last  week, 
"  What  a  pity  that  I  am  not  beautiful !  Why  did 
not  God  give  me  a  fine  voice  or  handsome  features 
— something  that  would  have  made  me  be  followed 
after  and  admired?"  Why  yesterday,  "Is  that  a 
dinner  for  a  Christian  V  [Under  one  cover  there 
was  nothing  but  manna,  and  the  other  was  only 
quails.]  Why  this  morning  such  fuss  and  fury 
because   a   chimney   smoked,  or  because  in   some 


MURMUES.  225 

well-meant  arrangement  of  your  papers  a  tract  had 
been  mislaid  which  you  wished  to  read?  Wliy 
that  monotone  of  peevishness,  discontent,  fault- 
finding which  runs  through  the  lives  of  many,  and 
which,  if  noticed,  unhinges  and  makes  unhappy 
those  around  them,  and  which,  if  no  notice  be 
taken  of  it,  renders  their  own  rage  still  fiercer? 
You  call  it  climate,  weather,  a  flaw  in  the  peptic 
processes,  the  Englishman's  privilege  of  grumbling. 
But  we  fear  that  if  the  truth  were  known,  it  would 
turn  out  an  old  disease  with  a  new  name.  It  does 
not  need  much  Hebrew  to  ascertain  that  it  is 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  murmurings. 

But  what 's  the  harm  of  it  ?  Why,  this  harm : 
God  was  good  to  Israel.  He  had  done  for  them 
what  He  never  did  for  any  nation.  He  had  chosen 
them  for  Himself  as  His  peculiar  treasure.  Stoop- 
ing down  upon  them.  He  had  snatched  them  from 
chains  and  tyranny,  and  at  that  very  instant,  as  on 
eagle's  wings,  was  bearing  them  to  a  good  land  and 
a  large.  And  they  should  have  been  thankful  and 
trustful,  and  remembering  that  they  were  in  the 
arms  of  Omnipotence — those  arms  which  had 
snatched  them  from  under  the  scythed  chariots  of 
Pharaoh,  and  which,  flying  over  the  Eed  Sea 
billows,  did  not  let  them  drop  into  its  weltering 
waters, — would  it  have  been  too  much  if,  in  any 
emergency,  they  had  calmly  stood  still  to  see  God's 

p 


226  MUEMURS. 

salvation,  and  if  in  their  daily  marcli  they  had 
made  the  passes  re-echo  with  their  songs  of  rejoic- 
ing? God  was  good  to  Israel,  and,  as  praise  is 
comely,  He  would  have  delighted  in  aught  that 
betokened  consciousness  of  His  benefits  and  trust 
in  His  care.  Instead  of  this  they  soon  forgot  His 
mighty  works,  and  from  over  the  graves  of  these 
grumblers  the  Lord  proclaims  to  His  people  in  all 
time,  "  Harden  not  your  hearts  as  in  the  provoca- 
tion, as  in  the  day  of  temptation  in  the  wilderness  : 
when  your  fathers  tempted  me,  proved  me,  and  saw 
my  works.  Forty  years  long  was  I  grieved  with 
that  generation,  and  said,  It  is  a  people  that  do  err 
in  their  heart,  and  they  have  not  known  my  ways. 
Unto  whom  I  sware  in  my  wrath,  that  they  should 
not  enter  into  my  rest."-^ 

Am  I  wrong  in  surmising  that  this  is  peculiarly 
a  sin  of  God's  people  ?  not  that  they  are  more  apt 
than  others  to  indulge  in  complaints  and  despond- 
ency ;  but  do  they  not  tolerate  in  themselves  a 
peevish,  foreboding,  murmuring  spirit  to  a  degree  to 
which  they  would  be  terrified  to  indulge  almost  any 
other  sin  ? 

And  is  it  not  wicked  ?  Are  you  not  under  the 
cloud — the  guiding  pillar  ?  Have  you  not  the  hope 
that  God  for  Christ's  sake  will  take  you  to  heaven  ? 
Have  you  not  been  baptized  into  Christ  ?     Do  you 

1  Ps.  xcv.  8-11.     See  also  1  Cor.  x.  1-12. 


MUEMUKS.  227 

not  profess  to  be  His  disciples,  and  in  Him  have 
you  not  often  found  as  often  as  you  sought  it 
refreshment  for  your  soul — spiritual  meat  and 
spiritual  drink?  And  should  not  the  thought  of 
your  high  distinction  fill  you  with  habitual  grati- 
tude, and  so  with  habitual  happiness  ? 

And  is  it  not  unwise?  This  creating  of  your 
own  crosses,  this  embittering  of  your  own  mercies, 
this  chiding  with  your  lot,  this  quarrelling  with  the 
Most  High,  this  falling- out  with  fellow -pilgrims,  is 
it  not  foolish  and  unwise?  What  advantageth  it 
you  that  God  is  good,  if  you  neglect  His  gifts  or 
push  them  from  you  ?  What  the  better  will  you  be 
of  the  Saviour's  grace  and  power,  if  you  cannot 
trust  Him?  What  the  better  are  you  of  all  the 
blessings  which  God  sends  you  in  providence  and 
in  the  gospel,  if  you  won't  allow  that  they  are 
meant  for  you — if  instead  of  closing  over  them  the 
warm  and  thankful  hand  of  faith,  you  nibble  at 
them  with  the  long  metallic  pincers  of  a  technical 
theology — if,  instead  of  taking  home  that  great 
cargo  of  blessings  which  Christ  sends  you  in  His 
word,  and  living  on  them  day  by  day,  you  leave 
them  miles  off  in  the  bonded  warehouse  of  your 
creed  ? 

Oh,  my  friends,  far  be  from  us  the  heartless- 
ness  which  would  make  light  of  real  afflictions,  or 
which  would  speak  as  if  there  were  no  such  thing 


228  MURMURS. 

as  pain  and  sorrow.  But  the  sorest  sufferers  are 
seldom  the  loudest  complainers,  and  by  bringing 
God  near,  a  real  affliction  usually  drives  murmurs 
far  away.  "  I  was  dumb,  I  opened  not  my  mouth, 
because  Thou  didst  it."  "  For  this  shall  every  one 
that  is  godly  pray  unto  Thee.  Surely  in  the  floods 
of  great  waters  they  shall  not  come  nigh  unto  him. 
Thou  art  my  hiding-place ;  thou  shalt  preserve  me 
from  trouble ;  thou  shalt  compass  me  about  with 
songs  of  deliverance."  We  have  seldom  found  a  true 
mourner  who  murmured.  The  struggle  might  be 
hard  but  the  strength  was  imparted,  and  we  have  so 
often  seen  the  peace  which  passeth  understanding 
keeping  the  heart  from  which  a  great  joy  had  de- 
parted, that — like  the  blind  man  when  asked, 
"What  shall  we  do  to  make  this  man  happy?"  and 
who  answered,  "  Put  out  his  eyes  " — we  have  some- 
times felt  that  for  causeless  complaints  and  fanciful 
grievances  there  is  a  remedy  real  though  dreadful  in 
an  actual  bereavement.  And  this  suggests  that  the 
true  relief  under  little  and  every- day  trials  must 
be  found  where  we  seek  for  support  under  great 
tribulations. 

And  what  is  that  ?  Like  the  Israelites  we  have 
our  Shekinah — our  cloud  of  glory  and  of  guidance 
in  which  God  hath  put  His  Name, — only  more  arti- 
culate and  nearer  hand,  in  the  Volume  of  the  Book. 
The  very  sight  of  it  should  be  reassuring.     In  its 


MURMURS.  229 

mere  presence  there  is  a  source  of  hope ;  in  its 
great  and  precious  promises  there  is  everlasting 
consolation. 

But  when  we  consult  it  more  particularly,  we 
find  that  to  bring  our  own  spirits  into  the  right  state, 
they  need  to  be  under  the  direct  influence  of  God's 
Spirit.  How  it  is  that  He  reaches  our  minds  and 
works  upon  them  we  hardly  know,  but  that  He  can 
do  it  we  are  told,  and  that  if  sincerely  asked  He 
will.  If  we  are  selfish.  He  is  benevolent:  if  we 
have  faint  love  to  Christ,  He  loves  Him  and  delights 
to  glorify  Him ;  if  we  are  slow  to  believe.  He  is  the 
author  of  faith  and  can  make  us  trustful ;  if  we  are 
complainers,  He  is  the  comforter.  And  if  we  being 
evil  know  to  give  good  gifts  to  our  children,  our 
heavenly  Father  will  give  His  Holy  Spirit  to  them 
who  ask  Him. 

And  let  us  remember  our  mercies.  If  you  had 
seen  the  chosen  people  on  the  Eed  Sea  shore, — with 
that  returnless  rubicon  between  themselves  and 
the  house  of  bondage,  and  their  persecutors  still  as 
a  stone  beneath  its  molten  sepulchre, — you  would 
have  said,  "  0  Israel,  who  is  like  unto  thee,  a  people 
saved  of  the  Lord?  The  deliverance  of  this  day 
will  never  depart  from  your  memory,  and  all  the 
rest  of  your  pilgrimage  you  will  continue  singing  to 
the  Lord  who  hath  triumphed  so  gloriously."  And 
yet  one  little  week  destroyed  the  tune,  and  changed 


230  MURMURS. 

hosannahs  into  murmurs.  And  we  shall  mncli  mis- 
take if  we  imagine  that  any  single  mercy,  however 
surpassing,  can  of  itself  awaken  life-long  thankful- 
ness or  even  secure  habitual  happiness.  I  have 
known  people  surprised  into  enormous  fortunes,  and 
after  the  first  rapture  was  over  they  relapsed  into  their 
wonted  suUenness,  and  wandered  about  amidst  their 
wealth  with  the  old  verjuice  in  their  tempers  and 
the  old  scowl  on  their  faces.  And  I  have  seen  men 
rejoicing  on  the  Eed  Sea  shore, — tears  in  their  eyes 
and  rapture  in  their  looks, — because  they  had 
escaped  from  Satan's  bondage,  and  feeling  as  if  they 
could  never  lose  this  blessedness  ;  and  even  these  I 
have  lived  to  see  dwindle  down  into  "murmurers, 
complainers,  and  spots  in  the  feast  of  charity." 
And  this  mainly  because  they  had  forgotten  God 
their  Saviour,  and  the  wondrous  things  He  had  done 
for  them.-^  And  whilst  this  confirms  what  we  have 
already  said, — that  in  order  to  keep  up  the  memory 
of  a  mercy  we  need  a  Eemembrancer,  one  constant 
as  is  God  Himself,  and  who  can  come  near  our 
spirits  as  God's  Spirit  can ;  it  also  shows  that  we 
ought  to  stir  up  our  own  minds  by  way  of  remem- 
brance. That  great  deliverance, — the  salvation 
wrought  by  Christ,  and  Christ  Himself.  Sabbaths 
are  invaluable  mementos,  and  so  are  sacraments, 
and  all  high  and  hallowed  seasons.     But  over  and 

iPs.  cvi.21,  22. 


MURMURS.  231 

above  we  must  put  forth  an  active  effort.  "We  must 
stir  up  our  minds,  we  must  look  back,  and  look 
around,  and  try  to  revive  the  feeling  with  which 
first  we  stood  on  our  Eed  Sea  shore,  and  shouted, 
"  The  Lord  is  my  strength  and  my  song,  and  he  is 
become  my  salvation." 

Then,  suppose  we  try  to  invert  the  process.  We 
are  ingenious  in  finding  out  desiderata :  it  may  not 
be  the  best  Latin,  but  it  would  be  an  excellent  habit 
if  we  tried  to  find  out  the  suppeditata, — the  wants 
that  have  been  supplied  and  the  blessings  that  have 
been  sent  even  without  our  asking.  A  mighty 
inventory  :— The  Saviour — The  Word  of  God — The 
hope  of  glory — The  pardon  of  sin— Eternal  life, 
even  now  begun — The  Holy  Spirit — Our  British 
bu'thright — Our  nineteenth  century — These  books 
— These  friends — This  family  circle  still  in  sight — 
And  other  members  in  Heaven — This  morning's 
meal. 


XV. 

^Ixt  BtctiloQXXZ,^ 

"And  God  sjDake  all  these  words,  saying,  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God, 
which  have  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  out  of  the 
house  of  bondage.  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  me," 
etc. — Exodus  xx.  1-17. 

If  it  takes  some  time  to  learii,  it  also  takes  some 
time  to  forget.  Before  he  fell  away  from  God's 
friendship,  man  had  enjoyed  a  wonderful  intimacy 
with  his  Creator ;  and  as  the  Lord  God  used  to  talk 
with  Adam  in  the  cool  of  the  day,  we  can  easily 
believe  that  our  first  father  made  attainments  in 
Divine  knowledge  such  as  have  been  vouchsafed  to 
none  of  his  descendants.  And  setting  out  of  sight 
those  perfections  of  the  Godhead  which  he  had  no 
occasion  to  know,  if  asked  to  name  the  greatest 
theologian  who  has  ever  lived,  we  doubt  if  we 
should  name  Calvin  or  Aquinas, — nay,  if  we  should 
name  even  Paul  or  Moses.  For  clear  and  unclouded 
knowledge,  for  child-like  and  familiar  intimacy,  we 
are  apt  to  think  that  no  one  has  yet  come  near  the 
student  and  worshipper  of  Eden  :  we  fancy  that 

'  Preached  before  the  British  Society  for  the  Evangelisation  of  the 
Jews. 


THE  DECALOGUE.  233 

before  Lis  fall  Adam  knew  by  intuition,  and  hs  the 
result  of  affectionate  intercourse  with  Heaven,  a 
great  deal  which  his  descendants  have  not  yet  been 
able  to  recover. 

And  what  he  thus  learned  we  have  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  he  ever  afterwards  forgot.  The  Fall 
banished  him  from  Paradise,  but  it  did  not  annihilate 
his  memory  ;  and  he  lived  on  for  nearly  a  thousand 
years  thereafter,  we  have  every  reason  to  believe,  a 
penitent  and  a  preacher  of  righteousness.  He  lived 
on — that  old- world's  Bible — able  to  tell  all  that  he 
had  learned  in  the  days  of  innocence,  with  the 
addition  of  that  Gospel  which  had  been  revealed  to 
him  on  the  day  of  his  mournful  exile  ;  and  to  every 
conscience-stricken  Lamech,  to  every  guileless  God- 
fearing Abel,  to  every  devout  and  heavenly-minded 
Enoch  throughout  successive  centuries,  he  could 
repeat  the  things  which  he  had  heard  and  seen,  nor 
need  any  have  felt  helplessly  benighted  who  could 
inquire  at  such  an  oracle. 

And  long  after  our  first  father  fell  asleep,  the 
light  still  lingered.  It  was  no  scanty  nor  corrupt 
creed  which  issued  from  the  Ark,  and  well  had  it 
been  for  the  world  had  the  morning  spread  upon 
Mount  Ararat  gone  on,  and  brightened  into  perfect 
day.  But  it  soon  began  to  fade.  Men  did  not  like 
to  retain  the  true  God  in  their  knowledge,  and  it 
was  not  long  before  darkness  covered  all  the  earth. 


234  THE  DECALOGUE. 

and  gross  darkness  every  people.  Idolatry  was  all 
but  universal,  and  no  less  universal  were  the  accom- 
panying immoralities  and  crimes. 

At  this  conjuncture,  to  save  the  scanty  relics  of 
primeval  truth,  and  to  receive  and  preserve  further 
revelations,  the  Lord  took  this  method.  Water 
spilt  upon  the  ground  cannot  be  gathered  up  again. 
It  sinks  into  the  soil.  There  were  tons  of  it  yester- 
day, but  if  you  go  out  to  fill  your  pitcher  to-day,  it 
all  is  gone.  If  you  want  to  preserve  the  precious 
element  you  must  prepare  a  tank  or  reservoir.  You 
dig  a  pool,  and  to  prevent  it  from  leaking  you  line 
the  sides  with  concrete  or  with  marble  closely  fitting ; 
and  if  carefully  covered  over  or  buried  in  the  cool 
heart  of  the  mountain,  in  such  a  storehouse  it  may 
be  kept  for  years.  Exotic  flowers  or  foreign  plants, 
if  seeded  on  the  mountain-side  or  inserted  in  the 
meadow  amongst  the  promiscuous  herbage  growing 
there,  soon  get  choked  and  disappear.  If  you  wish 
to  transmit  from  season  to  season,  or  from  age  to 
age,  the  flaming  glories  of  the  Cape  or  the  rich  fruits 
of  the  tropic,  you  must  provide  a  garden  enclosed — 
you  must  keep  out  the  weeds  and  the  ruffian  wea- 
ther. And  so  to  preserve  trutlis  and  lessons  for 
which  there  was  no  predisposition  in  a  fallen  world, 
— from  which  there  was  rather  an  aversion  in  the 
mind  of  the  promiscuous  multitude,  the  Lord  "  took 
in  a  little  piece  of  holy  ground."     He  fenced  in  the 


THE  DECALOGUE.  235 

Hebrew  nationality,  and  fitted  it  for  receiving  His 
successive  revelations.  Within  the  enclosure  of 
their  mountains  and  the  desert  surrounding,  and 
within  the  enclosure  still  more  effectual  of  their 
peculiar  institutions.  He  secluded  them  and  walled 
them  in,  and  made  them  His  own  conservatory, — a 
conservatory  where  such  truths  as  the  unity  and 
sjjirituality  of  God,  mediation,  atonement  for  sin, 
the  promise  of  Messiah,  should  survive  uninjured, 
and  where  should  flourish  institutions  so  humane 
and  so  holy  as  the  Sabbath  and  the  synagogue, 
sacrifice  and  a  provision  for  the  poor.  The  water  of 
life  was  in  danger  of  being  lost  if  it  rained  indis- 
criminate on  a  besotted  world  ;  and  so  the  Most 
High  prepared  a  reservoir.  He  dug  it  deep  and 
lined  it  carefully.  By  terrible  punishments  He 
weaned  the  nation  from  idolatry,  and  by  laws 
defining  their  very  food,  He  made  them  a  peculiar 
people.  That  ritual  was  the  asphalt  or  cement  with 
which  He  lined  the  reservoir,  and  then,  to  make 
assurance  doubly  sure,  into  the  inner  tank,  the  iron 
cistern  of  a  written  record  pouring  the  full  flood  of 
saving  knowledge,  He  provided  for  the  thirst  of 
all  ages.  He  provided  so  that  in  all  the  coming 
centuries  when  the  poor  and  needy  cried  unto  the 
Lord,  they  should  be  able  with  joy  to  draw  water 
from  the  wells  of  salvation. 

As  the  Lord  said  to  Israel  (Ex.  xix.  5),  "If  ye 


236  THE  DECALOGUE. 

will  obey  my  voice  and  keep  my  covenant,  ye  shall 
be  a  peculiar  treasure  to  me  above  all  people  :  ye 
shall  be  unto  me  a  kingdom  of  priests,  and  a  holy 
nation  :"  a  sacred  community,  a  sacerdotal  society, 
a  kingdom  of  priests.  And  as  "the  priest's  lips 
should  keep  knowledge,"  it  was  to  be  Israel's  func- 
tion to  receive  and  preserve  the  lively  oracles ; — 
they  were  to  be  in  an  attitude  evermore  to  learn 
God's  will,  and  they  were  to  be  careful  to  maintain 
in  the  midst  of  a  forgetful  world  His  worship  and 
His  way. 

In  connexion  with  the  Life  and  Times  of  Moses 
we  have  so  far  traced  the  process  by  which  the  Most 
High  prepared  the  peculiar  people.  Amidst  bond- 
age and  abuse  we  have  seen  the  chosen  family  grow 
into  a  mighty  multitude ;  and  now,  rescued  by  the 
outstretched  arm  of  Jehovah,  torn  from  the  grasp  of 
Pharaoh,  and  sped  through  the  trough  of  the  sun- 
dered sea,  we  find  that  rescued  multitude  beginning 
to  realize  its  distinct  and  independent  nationality. 
Fifty  days  have  passed  since  that  night  so  memor- 
able when  the  fiery  piUar  gave  the  sign  and  showed 
the  path  to  the  marching  million,  and  now  con- 
ducted into  the  very  depths  of  the  desert,  and 
prepared  by  such  miracles  as  the  manna  and  the 
smitten  rock,  the  people  were  ready  to  receive  the 
first,  and,  in  its  accompaniments,  the  most  stupend- 
ous of  aU  the  revelations. 


THE  DECALOGUE.  237 

'No  scene  could  be  more  suitable.  Enclasped 
between  the  two  arms  of  the  Erythrean  Gulf  is  tliat 
enormous  labyrinth  of  dry  valleys  and  desolate 
mountains  into  the  midst  of  which  the  wanderers 
now  had  penetrated, — a  region  new  to  them,  but 
not  unknown  to  their  leader,  for  in  that  same  Horeb 
he  had  fed  the  flock  of  Jethro,  and  there  at  the 
burning  bush  he  had  received  his  great  commission. 
And  we  can  easily  imagine  what  a  strange  and 
solemn  region  it  would  be  to  Israel, — come  away 
from  the  Nile,  broad  and  overbrimming,  to  these 
ravines,  down  which  nothing  flowed  but  rivers  of 
hot  air ;  from  the  loud  streets  and  stirring  lanes  of 
Goshen  and  Memphis  to  that  listening  silence  which 
seemed  to  await  the  voice  of  the  Eternal,  and  those 
lofty  peaks  which,  relieved  by  no  verdure,  and 
interrupted  by  no  life,  carried  the  eye  that  rested  on 
them  straight  up  to  heaven.  If  it  be  the  perfection 
of  a  place  of  worship  to  have  nothing  to  distract  the 
mind,  there  could  be  nothing  more  stern  and  still 
than  this  inland  solitude,  with  its  granite  pinnacles 
soaring  up  nine  thousand  feet  into  the  firmament, 
— an  Alpine  skeleton,  a  Tyrol  or  Savoy,  with  its 
forests  and  its  snows  torn  off  and  its  lakes  dried  wp, 
— the  ruins  of  a  world. 

So  awful  was  the  sanctuary,  so  sublime  the  pulpit 
to  which  Jehovah  led  His  people,  that  they  might 
hear  His  memorable  sermon  and  receive  the  statute- 


238  THE  DECALOGUE. 

book  of  heaven.  After  two  days  of  solemn  prepara- 
tion, the  tMrd  morning  dawned,  and  Sinai  was  lost 
in  clouds,  and  as  from  around  the  dark  pavilion  the 
flame-like  ministers  went  out  and  in,  and  an  aerial 
trumpet  mingled  with  the  crashing  thunder,  the 
voice  began,  "  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God  who  have 
brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  out  of  the 
house  of  bondage :  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods 
before  me;"  and  proceeded  till  all  the  emphatic 
words  were  spoken,  which,  afterwards  graven  on 
stone  by  God's  own  finger,  are  still  recognised  by 
Christian,  Jew,  and  Moslem  as  the  basis  of  all 
religion  and  all  morals — the  great  standard  of  right 
and  wrong, — the  Ten  Commandments.  On  this 
code  we  have  but  a  few  remarks  to  offer. 

1.  The  Decalogue  is  unique.  God  gave  to  the 
Israelites  many  other  statutes  and  ordinances,  but 
these  others  He  gave  by  the  hand  of  the  lawgiver — 
silently  and  in  personal  communion  imparted  them 
to  Moses,  and  by  Moses  they  were  conveyed  to  the 
people.  But  when  the  ten  commandments  were 
spoken,  Moses  himself  was  on  the  plain  and  on  a 
level  with  the  rest  of  the  congregation.  And  al- 
though they  were  afterwards  consigned  to  stone 
tablets,  so  terrible  was  the  voice  of  the  Eternal — so 
like  to  dissolve  their  quaking  frames  as  thrill  after 
thrill  it  cut  and  hewed  the  fleshly  tables  of  their 
hearts — that  they  said  to  Moses,  "  Speak  thou  with 


THE  DECALOGUE.  230 

US,  and  we  will  hear ;  but  let  not  God  speak  with 
us,  lest  we  die."  Both  as  spoken  by  God's  own 
voice,  and  as  written  on  the  rock  by  God's  own 
finger,  these  commands  stand  forth  alone — their 
supreme  importance  sufficiently  betokened  by  their 
prominence  in  the  forefront  of  all  the  rest,  and  by 
their  promulgation  so  directly  and  entirely  Di\dne. 

2.  Then  the  Decalogue  is  marked  by  wonderful 
simplicity  and  brevity.  The  second,  third,  and 
fourth  commandments  go  into  some  detail,  but  like 
the  rest  each  of  them  can  easily  be  condensed  into 
a  single  sentence ;  so  that  they  will  merit  the  old 
Talmudic  name,  The  Ten  Words, — Words  so  plain 
that  he  who  runs  may  read,  so  portable  that  he  who 
forgets  everything  besides  may  easily  remember 
them ;  and  thus  a  wonderful  contrast  to  our  human 
legislation — to  our  British  statute-book,  for  instance, 
which  it  would  need  an  elephant  to  carry  and  an 
(Edipus  to  interpret,  and  which  is  so  ingeniously 
complicated  that  the  most  conscientious  are  con- 
tinually transgressing  it,  and  rogues  are  constantly 
surprised  by  finding  that  they  have  unintentionally 
fulfilled  it. 

3.  These  ten  words  are  as  comprehensive  as  they 
are  brief  and  authoritative.  The  first  table  is  religi- 
ous, and  the  second  is  moral.  The  first  table  fixes 
the  right  object  of  worship — the  one  supreme,  self- 
existent  Jehovah, — the  right  mode,  direct  and  with- 


240  THE  DECALOGUE. 

out  the  intervention  of  images, — the  right  spirit, 
reverently  and  with  godly  fear.  The  second  or 
ethical  table  is  the  protector  of  life^  of  person,  of 
property,  of  character,  and  as  the  rest  sufficiently 
cover  the  outward  conduct,  it  closes  the  series  with 
one  which  reaches  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the 
heart, — Thou  shalt  not  covet. 

On  the  several  precepts  it  is  impossible  to 
expatiate;  but  a  remark  may  be  useful  regarding 
two  or  three  points. 

In  the  second  commandment  we  have  a  reason 
annexed :  "  Bow  not  to  idols ;  for  I  the  Lord  thy 
God  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the 
fathers  upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth 
[generation]  of  them  that  hate  me,  and  showing 
mercy  unto  thousands  [of  generations]  of  them  that 
love  me."  To  some  this  threatening  sounds  severe 
and  arbitrary ;  but  we  fancy  that  their  misgiving 
arises  mainly  from  a  misconception.  It  is  not 
meant  for  a  moment  that  the  pious  son  of  an 
idolatrous  father  shall  be  punished  for  his  father's 
idolatry  ;  for  in  such  a  case  (to  use  the  language  of 
Plutarch^)  "  the  punishment  destined  for  the  race 
is  cut  off  by  the  son  passing  over  from  the  family 
of  vice  to  that  of  virtue."  Thus  Josiah,  the  devout 
son  of  the  idolatrous  Amon,  was  not  only  exempted 
from  any  punishment  for  his  father's  sin,  but  on  the 

^  Quoted  by  Kaliscli. 


THE  DECALOGUE.  241 

ground  of  his  individual  piety  the  penalty  hanging 
over  an  idolatrous  country  was  suspended  until 
Josiah  should  be  safe  beyond  its  reach :  "  Behold,  I 
will  bring  evil  on  this  place  (saith  the  Lord),  be- 
cause they  have  forsaken  nie,  and  have  burnt 
incense  unto  other  gods ;  but  because  thine  oivn 
heart  was  tender,  and  thou  hast  humbled  thyself 
before  the  Lord,  behold,  therefore,  I  will  gather  thee 
unto  thy  fathers  in  peace  ;  and  thine  eyes  shall  not 
see  the  evil  which  I  will  bring  upon  this  place."  ^ 
It  is  only  if  the  third  and  fourth  generations  con- 
tinue haters  of  God  themselves  that  they  will  be 
punished  at  once  for  their  own  sin  and  the  sin  of 
their  God-hating  or  idolatrous  ancestor. 

This  is  all  that  is  said,  but  even  if  it  had  said  a 
little  more  could  we  not  still  understand  it  ?  Can 
we  alter  the  constitution  of  human  nature  ?  Dare 
we  complain  of  the  course  of  Providence  ?  In  that 
constitution  is  not  the  parental  or  transmissive  prin- 
ciple so  deeply  embedded  that  we  shall  never  get 
it  out  ?  and  in  the  course  of  that  Providence  is  not 
good  on  the  one  hand  and  misery  on  the  other 
continually  flowing  through  this  parental  channel  ? 
And  do  you  not  feel  justified  in  continually  making 
appeals  of  this  nature  : — "  My  good  friend,  if  you 
have  no  regard  for  yourself,  think  of  your  family. 
You  are  living  without  religion,  and  at  this  rate 

1  2  Kings  xxii.  16-20. 
Q 


242  THE  DECALOGUE. 

your  children  are  likely  to  grow  up  reckless  and 
irreligious  also ;  your  boy  is  already  mimicking 
your  oaths.  Your  fierce  passions  are  reappearing 
in  your  child.  Your  tippling  will  be  transmitted, 
and  with  it  the  rags  and  wretchedness,  even  unto 
the  third  and  fourth  generation  of  them  who  like 
yourself  love  liquor  and  abuse  themselves  with 
strong  drink.  And  do  not  say  that  it  is  hard  in 
God  to  punish  the  poor  innocents.  If  they  are 
innocents  God  will  not  punish  them  ;  but  it  is  you 
who  are  doubly  doing  it.  Now  that  they  are  com- 
paratively innocent,  you  are  punishing  them  by 
throwing  away  your  good  name — a  legacy  better 
than  any  gold  you  could  have  left  them ;  and  you 
are  punishing  them  by  squandering  their  comforts, 
and  you  are  doing  infinitely  worse.  You  are  not 
only  a  bad  father  yourself,  but  by  ruining  their 
principles  and  corrupting  their  morals  you  are 
doing  all  that  you  can  to  deprive  them  of  the 
fatherhood  of  God.  By  making  them  bad,  you  are 
ruining  their  prospects  for  either  world.  Have  you 
no  heart?  have  you  no  pity  for  your  own?  by 
bringing  them  up  in  idolatry,  in  Sabbath-breaking 
and  dishonesty,  will  you  put  them  out  of  the  pale 
of  that  mercy  which  is  abundant  enough  for  a 
thousand  generations?  will  you  put  them  within 
sweep  of  that  law  which,  when  the  sin  is  inherited, 
sends  also  the  penalty,  and  thus  have  your  own 


THE  DECALOGUE.  243 

crime  perpetuated  and  your  iniquity  visited  in 
children  like-minded  to  the  third  and  fourth 
generation  ? "  So  that,  rightly  understood,  we  can 
see  in  the  words  nothing  harsh  or  unkind.  The 
fifth  commandment  concludes  with  a  promise, — 
that  second  commandment  concludes  with  a  warn- 
ing,— not  a  mere  threatening,  but  a  warning  which 
includes  both  threatening  and  promise.  "  Honour 
thy  parents,"  says  the  one,  "  that  thy  days  may  be 
long."  "Be  loyal  to  thy  God,"  says  the  other, 
"  that  it  may  be  well  not  only  with  thyself,  but 
with  thy  children  after  thee :"  and  if  there  be  any 
difference,  it  is  a  purer  and  wider  affection — a 
more  extended  self-love  to  which  the  second  com- 
mandment addresses  its  appeal. 

A  wonderful  code  !  and  a  wonderful  occasion  ! — 

"  The  terrors  of  that  awful  day,  though  past, 
Have  on  the  tide  of  time  some  glory  cast ;"  ^ 

and  it  is  impossible  to  calculate  the  impressions  and 
impulses  wdiich  date  from  that  hour  of  awe  and 
wonder.  As  the  people  witnessed  the  thunderings 
and  the  lightnings  and  the  noise  of  the  trumpet, 
and  listened  to  the  proclamation,  "  I  am  the  Lord 
thy  God,  who  brought  thee  out  of  Egypt,"  there 
remained  no  doubt  in  any  mind.  In  every  fibre  of 
their  frame  they  felt  and  knew  that  Israel's  God 
was  present,  and  all  their  bones  could  say,  "  Who 

1  Joanna  Baillie. 


244  THE  DECALOGUE. 

is  like  unto  tliee,  0  Lord?"  Thou  art  Lord  of 
heaven  and  earth,  and  there  is  none  besides.  And 
all  infirmities,  all  idolatrous  backslidings  notwith- 
standing, of  that  great  impression  neither  they  nor 
their  children  ever  rid  themselves  entirely.  A 
sensation  as  of  Sinai  is  in  the  heart  of  Israel  still ; 
and  it  has  been  a  great  thing  for  the  world  that 
through  all  these  three  thousand  years  there  has 
existed  in  the  midst  of  the  nations — amidst  pagan 
polytheism  and  papal  idolatry — a  race  of  mono- 
theists  and  spiritual  worshippers — a  race  witnessing 
for  the  unity  and  inconceivable  majesty  of  the 
Most  High. 

An  occasion  to  which  we,  my  friends,  are  parti- 
cularly indebted ;  for,  as  an  eloquent  Israelite  has 
remarked,  "  The  life  and  property  of  England  are 
protected  by  the  laws  of  Sinai.  The  hard-working 
people  of  England  are  secured  a  day  of  rest  in 
every  week  by  the  laws  of  Sinai." -^  And  more 
than  that :  for  all  the  rest  of  Eevelation,  and  all 
the  subsequent  Hebrew  history  rotate  round  Sinai. 
The  heroine  of  Jewish  warriors  and  the  inspiration 
of  Jewish  minstrels  were  equally  animated  by  the 
first  and  great  command ;  and  as  the  same  writer 
adds,  "As  an  exponent  of  the  mysteries  of  the 
human  heart,  as  a  soother  of  the  troubled  spirit, 
to  whose  harp  do  the  people  of  England  fly  for 

1  Disraeli's  Tancred. 


THE  DECALOGUE.  245 

sympathy  and  solace  ?  Is  it  to  Byron  or  Wordsworth, 
or  even  the  myriad-minded  Shakespeare  ?  No  ;  the 
most  popular  poet  in  England  is  the  sweet  singer  of 
Israel,  and  by  no  other  race  except  his  own  has  his 
odes  been  so  often  sung.  It  was  '  the  sword  of  the 
liOrd  and  of  Gideon'  that  w^on  for  England  its 
boasted  liberties ;  and  the  Scotch  achieved  their 
religious  freedom,  chanting  upon  their  hill-sides  the 
same  canticles  which  cheered  the  heart  of  Judah 
amid  their  glens." 

Thus  the  commands  were  given,  and  thus  on 
adamantine  tablets  they  survived — a  standard  of 
righteousness  universal  and  everlasting.  But  alas  ! 
though  the  Law  is  holy,  man  is  w^eak  and  sinful, 
and  if  a  perpetual  restraint  to  evil,  that  law  has  also 
been  to  the  most  strenuous  obedience  among  the 
children  of  men  a  standing  reproof,  a  perpetual 
despair.  With  its  concluding  prohibition  of  evil 
desires,  and  with  that  love  to  God  and  our  neigh- 
bour w^hich  is  confessedly  its  necessary  pervading 
spirit,  no  man  has  ever  gone  to  God  and  said,  "  I 
have  kept  it  all.  My  case  is  complete.  Are  there 
any  more  commands,  for  in  thought,  word,  and  deed 
I  have  perfectly  obeyed  the  Ten  V  But  like  David, 
and  Isaiah,  and  Jeremiah,  in  the  saintliest  men  self- 
knowledge  has  extorted  the  confession,  "  Woe  is  me, 
for  I  am  a  man  of  unclean  lips  1  My  very  righteous- 
ness is  filthy  rags.     0  God,  enter  not  into  judgment 


246  THE  DECALOGUE, 

with  thy  servant :  for  in  thy  sight   shall  no  man 
living  be  justified." 

So  stood  the  law  for  fifteen  centuries — a  monitor, 
a  reprover,  a  mirror,  into  which,  on  the  great  day  of 
atonement,  pride  might  look  and  see  the  grey  hairs 
in  its  goodness,  the  blemishes  in  its  best  obedience. 
There  it  stood  for  fifteen  centuries  a  challenge  to 
mankind — a  sword  which  none  could  wield,  a  trum- 
pet which  none  could  sound,  armour  which,  if  any 
one  could  wear  and  walk  in  it,  the  gates  of  heaven 
would  open  to  him  of  their  own  accord. 

There  it  stood,  and  there  it  would  still  be  standing, 
a  mere  protest  and  reproach,  had  not  the  Lawgiver 
Himself  become  the  Law-fulfiller.  But  at  last  that 
Son  was  given  to  our  human  family,  whose  name  is 
AVonderful,  the  Counsellor,  the  Mighty  God  !  In  the 
guise  of  our  mortality  He  brought  to  our  extremity 
the  help  of  Heaven,  and  going  up  to  the  Decalogue 
and  brushing  off  the  dust  of  ages,  He  read  it  all 
anew.  "  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the 
Law,"  He  said ;  "  I  am  come  not  to  destroy,  but  to 
fulfil."  And  forthwith  He  began.  To  every  precept 
rendering  heartfelt  homage.  He  presented  wdthal  a 
complete  obedience  : — in  His  own  emphatic  words, 
fulfilling.  Where  others  read  only  prohibition.  He 
read  requirement,  and  their  negative  He  relieved  and 
brought  up  into  the  positive.  "  Do  no  murder,"  was 
with  Him  "Be  meek,  be  merciful,  be  magnanimous ; " 
and  from  the  time  that,  in  saving  lives  and  healing 


THE  DECALOGUE.  247 

sickness,  He  struck  the  first  note,  till,  in  "  Father, 
forgive  them,"  He  breathed  forth  His  spirit,  respon- 
sive to  the  sixth  command ;  He  sounded  the  entire 
diapason,  and  showed  Himself  a  true  law-fulfiUer. 
"  Keep  holy  the  Sabbath,"  was  with  Him  not  merely 
"  Sit  still  and  do  nothing,"  but,  in  order  to  keep 
holy  the  Sabbath,  He  filled  it  up  with  heaven,  and 
by  healing  broken  hearts,  by  curing  life -long  lazars, 
by  filling  sinful  spirits  with  thoughts  benign  and 
beautiful.  He  secured  for  the  Lord  of  the  Sabbath 
new  love,  and  for  the  day  itself  new  sanctity.  And 
so  all  throughout,  till  over-against  the  two  tables  of 
requirement  arose  a  life  of  fulfilment — on  the  one 
side  a  holy  law,  on  the  other  a  holy  history — on  the 
one  side  a  precept  as  perfect  as  the  God  from  whom 
it  came,  on  the  other  side  an  obedience  as  perfect  as 
we  could  wish  our  own  to  have  been. 

And  now,  brethren  of  the  House  of  Israel,  we  have 
much  for  which  to  thank  you.  To  you  belong  "  the 
giving  of  the  law  and  the  promises."  In  the  hand 
of  God  you  have  been  the  benefactors  of  the  human 
family.  The  substructures  of  our  faith  rest  upon 
your  Bible.  We  sing  your  Psalms ;  we  believe  your 
Prophets ;  as  the  rule  of  our  conduct  we  recite  your 
Ten  Commandments.  The  heaven  to  which  we 
aspire  is  the  heaven  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob. 
At  the  same  time  we  frankly  confess  that  we  have 
no  hope  of  reaching  it  through  our  own  holiness. 
Do  not  twit  us,  as  well  you  may,  by  saying,  "  So 


248  THE  DECALOGUE. 

mncli  the  better  for  you,  because  you  have  none." 
If  it  come  to  that,  may  it  not  go  hard  with  the 
strictest  Jew  ?  Another  scene  awaits  us  more  awful 
than  even  that  morning  at  Sinai,  and  as,  before  God's 
nearing  sanctity,  dust  and  ashes  feel  like  to  die,  the 
least  sinful  might  be  thankful  to  say  to  some  Moses, 
"  Speak  thou  for  us,"  and  might  give  the  world  for 
some  passport  to  heaven  other  than  his  personal 
purity. 

Such  a  passport  we  who  are  Christians  believe 
that  we  have  found,  and  for  it  we  own  ourselves 
indebted  to  One  who  was  not  the  less  a  member  of 
your  nation,  because  we  believe  Him  to  have  been  a 
great  deal  more.  According  to  our  view,  Messiah  has 
not  only  offered  a  sacrifice  for  sins,  but  He  has  magni- 
fied the  law  and  made  it  honourable.  As  the  repre- 
sentative of  His  people,  and  on  their  behalf.  He  has  ful- 
filled all  righteousness,  and  with  that  righteousness 
His  Divine  Father  is  well  pleased.  We  owe  much  to 
Moses,  but  we  owe  more  to  Messiah.  Moses  handed 
down  from  God  to  your  fathers  a  law  right  but  rigid, 
and  said,  Do  this  and  live  ;  but  Messiah  handed  up 
to  God,  on  behalf  of  His  people,  a  perfect  obedience, 
and  from  God  He  hands  down  to  His  people  in 
return  a  pardon  all  complete,  and  says,  Take  this 
and  live.  Moses  led  your  fathers  to  the  fenced  and 
flaming  skirts  of  Sinai,  but  Messiah  leads  us  to  the 
feet  of  His  Father  and  our  Father,  and  teaches  us 
to  sav,  "  Our  Father  who   art  in  heaven."     Such 


THE  DECALOGUE.  249 

happiness  as  we  have  we  owe  it  all  to  One  whom, 
according  to  the  flesh,  we  owe  to  you.  By  a  singular 
combination  of  circumstances,  the  most  of  you  have 
been  led  to  repudiate  His  claims,  although  to  our 
minds  He  is  the  glory  of  Israel,  and  that  all- import- 
ant Personage,  for  the  sake  of  whom  your  nation  has 
received  and  still  maintains  its  mysterious  and  un- 
precedented existence.  But,  forgive  me  for  saying 
it,  you  are  ^vrong ;  your  position  is  a  false  one ;  for 
the  facts  of  history  and  the  facts  of  consciousness 
are  both  against  you,  We  respectfully  urge  you  to 
examine  for  yourselves,  and  as  the  result  of  candid 
inquiry  we  can  only  anticipate  one  conclusion.  From 
that  conclusion  your  minds  at  this  moment  revolt ; 
but  if  it  should  prove,  as  we  predict,  you  will  even- 
tually wonder  at  your  own  repugnance.  And  amongst 
other  results,  besides  making  the  Bible  a  book  true, 
beautiful,  and  significant  beyond  all  that  it  has  ever 
been  before,  one  happy  effect  will  be  to  give  the 
Decalogue  a  look  no  longer  threatening  and  penal, 
but  friendly  and  propitious.  Finding  in  the  Law- 
giver the  Law-fulfiller,  the  commandment  will  ac- 
quire a  new  character,  and  you  will  find  accom- 
plished that  promise  of  the  Lord  by  Ezekiel,  "  A 
new  heart  will  I  give  you,  and  a  new  spirit  will  I 
put  wdthin  you ;  and  I  will  cause  you  to  walk  in 
my  statutes,  and  ye  shall  keep  my  judgments,  and 
do  them." 


XVI. 

^Ite  fato  ixnh  its  Julfiller, 

"  And  Moses  called  all  Israel,  and  said  unto  tliem,  Hear,  0  Israel, 
the  statutes  and  judgments  which  I  speak  in  your  ears  this  day, 
that  ye  may  learn  them,  and  keep  and  do  them.  The  Lord  our 
God  made  a  covenant  with  us  in  Horeh.  The  Lord  made  not 
this  covenant  with  our  fathers,  but  with  us,  even  us,  who  are  all 
of  us  here  alive  this  day.  The  Lord  talked  with  you  face  to  face 
in  the  mount,  out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire,  (I  stood  between  the 
Lord  and  you  at  that  time,  to  shew  you  the  word  of  the  Lord  : 
for  ye  were  afraid  by  reason  of  the  tire,  and  went  not  up  into  the 
mount,)  saying,"  etc.— Deut.  v.  1-21. 

Such  are  the  Ten  Commandments.  Such  is  that 
great  code  of  religion  and  morals  on  which  the 
legislation  of  Great  Britain  is  founded,  and  which 
pervades  the  jurisprudence  of  Christendom.  In  many 
sanctuaries  it  is  read  over  every  week,  and  to  each 
precept  the  w^orshipper  responds  with  the  prayer, 
"  Lord,  incline  our  hearts  to  keep  this  law ;"  and 
even  where  it  is  not  written  on  the  wall  or  recited 
from  the  altar,  few  are  the  memories  to  which  it  is 
not  familiar.  Indeed,  so  omnipresent  is  it  now  in 
the  life,  the  ideas,  and  the  language  of  our  country, 
that  the  difficulty  is  great  to  throw^  ourselves  away 
from  it  even  in  thought,  so  as  to  mark  its  features 

250 


THE  LAW  AND  ITS  FULFILLER.  251 

and  admire  its  symmetry.  We  cannot  imagine  a 
world  without  it,  and  so  we  can  hardly  estimate  the 
service  which  has  been  rendered  by  its  promulgation, 
not  that  its  details  were  new  even  at  Mount  Sinai, 
but  that  then  and  there  the  rules  of  eternal  riGjhte- 
ousness,  which  had  been  lying  about  the  world — 
tossed  along  from  age  to  age,  vague,  amorphous,  and 
unauthoritative — were  handed  forth  from  heaven 
anew,  and,  clear  beyond  cavil,  sufficiently  compact 
for  the  smallest  memory,  and  comprehensible  by  the 
feeblest  understanding,  became  to  mankind  a  statute- 
book  for  ever — a  statute-book  direct  from  the  pre- 
sence of  Infinite  Majesty,  and  in  the  solemnities  by 
which  it  was  sanctioned,  suggestive  of  that  awful 
tribunal  when  it  will  reappear  as  the  law  by  which 
the  righteous  Judge  shall  render  to  every  man 
according  to  his  deeds. 

I.  The  Decalogue  is  the  first  statute-book  which 
has  abolished  idolatry  and  polytheism.  "  No  God 
but  me,"  says  the  first  commandment ;  "  No  like- 
ness or  image,"  says  the  second  ;  and  in  thus  learn- 
ing the  unity  and  spirituality  of  the  Divine  nature, 
Israel  was  at  once  put  in  advance  of  the  rest  of  the 
world  by  at  least  fifteen  hundred  years.  In  the  most 
important  of  all  knowledge,  the  little  Samuel  who 
could  repeat  these  two  commands  was  wiser  than 
Socrates  or  Cicero  adoring  a  statue.  He  was  wiser 
than  Homer,  or  Hesiod  with  his  lords  many  and 


252  THE  LAW  AND  ITS  FULFILLER. 

gods  many ;  lie  was  wiser  than  Confucius,  or  Lucre- 
tius without  a  god  at  all. 

2.  Another  peculiarity  of  this  statute-book  is  its 
consecration  of  one  day  in  seven  to  the  service  of 
Jehovah.  The  temple  was  a  sacred  place,  and  in 
the  middle  ages  it  was  usual  to  claim  for  churches 
the  right  of  sanctuary,  so  that  whosoever  took  re- 
fuge within  the  hallowed  precincts  was  safe  from  the 
avenger.  But  it  is  not  to  a  holy  place  but  to  a 
holy  day  that  God  has  given  this  protecting  privilege. 
Addressing  a  world  to  which  He  had  said,  "  In  the 
sweat  of  thy  brow  shalt  thou  eat  thy  bread,"  and 
addressing  a  community  in  which  there  was  a  great 
deal  of  forced  labour,  many  bondmen  and  many 
bondmaids,  the  purport  of  it  was — "Yes,  labour. 
You  require  labour  from  your  servants,  and  I  require 
labour  from  you.  Toil  is  the  taskmaster,  entitled 
to  seize  you  and  to  take  it  out  of  you  wherever  he 
finds  you ;  but  there  is  a  sanctuary.  There  is  one 
asylum  into  which  I  invite  you,  and  into  which  I 
forbid  my  taskmaster  to  follow  you.  Every  seventh 
day  shall  be  an  absolute  cesspttion.  It  is  the  Sabbath 
of  the  Lord  your  God,  when  you  are  to  do  no  work 
yourself,  nor  are  you  to  ask  your  man-servant  or 
maid-servant  to  do  any."  The  blessing  which  this>- 
weekly  respite  brought  to  Israel  was  unspeakable, 
and  of  all  the  boons  which  from  Palestine  have  over- 
flowed the  surrounding  world,  there  is  not  one  which 


THE  LAW  AND  ITS  FULFILLEE.  253 

has  been  more  widely  shared,  or  which  ought  to  be 
more  gratefully  guarded  ;  none  which  the  sons  of 
industry  should  so  resolutely  refuse  to  sell,  or  which 
they  should  so  scorn  to  steal  from  one  another.  To 
quote  the  words  of  one  whose  testimony  is  not  the 
less  valuable  that  he  despised  all  religions  and  hated 
Christianity.  Says  Humboldt, — ''The  selection  of 
the  seventh  day  is  certainly  the  wisest  that  could 
have  been  made.  To  some  extent  it  may  be  optional 
to  shorten  or  lengthen  labour  on  other  days,  but  in 
regard  to  men's  physical  power  and  for  perseverance 
in  a  monotonous  emj)loyment,  I  am  convinced  that 
six  days  is  just  the  true  measure.  There  is  likewise 
something  humane  in  this,  that  the  beasts  which  aid 
man  in  his  labour  share  the  rest.  To  lengthen  the 
interval  would  be  as  inhuman  as  foolish.  When,  in 
the  time  of  the  Eevolution,  I  spent  several  years  in 
Paris,  I  saw  this  institution,  despite  its  Divine  origin, 
superseded  by  the  dry  and  wooden  decimal  system. 
Only  the  tenth  day  was  a  day  of  rest,  and  all  cus- 
tomary work  was  continued  for  nine  long  days.  This 
being  evidently  too  long,  Sunday  was  kept  by  several 
as  far  as  the  police  permitted,  and  the  result  was  too 
much  idleness." 

3.  A  third  peculiarity  of  this  legislation  is  that  it 
extends  to  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart. 
"Thou  shalt  not  covet."  Thou  shalt  not  cherish 
wrong  desires.     Thou  shalt  not  only  forbear  from 


254  THE  LAW  AND  ITS  FULFILLEll. 

doing  the  sinful  deed,  but  slialt  forbear  from  thinking 
it.  In  all  human  legislation  there  is  no  such  require- 
ment. If  there  were,  who  could  enforce  it  ?  If  the 
tongue  is  silent,  if  the  face  is  blank,  if  the  hands  are 
motionless,  who  can  read  his  neighbour's  heart  ?  who 
can  go  and  testify  against  him,  "  I  saw  him  imagining 
the  king's  death.  I  saw  a  great  greedy  thought  of 
liis  devouring  a  widow's  house,  traced  the  chimneys 
going  down  as  you  trace  the  horns  of  a  kid  down  the 
throat  of  a  constrictor.  I  saw  him  in  a  fearful  fit  of 
inward  passion,  shaking  his  spirit's  fist,  foaming  mth 
revenge  and  rancour,  and  pouring  forth  unuttered 
imprecations?"  Man  looketh  on  the  outward  ap- 
pearance, and  as  long  as  our  neighbour's  outward 
conduct  is  correct  we  accept  him  as  a  good  citizen. 
But  the  Lord  looketh  on  the  heart.  God  is  a  Spirit, 
and  our  truest  self  is  a  spirit  also  ;  and  unless  that 
hidden  man  of  the  heart  be  right,  all  outside  accuracy 
profiteth  nothing.  And  so  in  this  its  solemn  and 
heart- searching  close,  as  well  as  in  its  august  com- 
mencement, the  Decalogue  reminds  us  of  Him  with 
whom  we  have  to  do.  And  although  a  command- 
ment which  to  many  occasions  small  concern,  there 
is  no  one  more  fitted  to  arouse  and  quicken  con- 
science. The  Pharisee  who  has  fancied  that  he  was 
advancing  straight  up  to  heaven's  gate,  along  the 
avenue  of  ample  and  well-observed  commands,  has 
come  to  a  standstill  on  reaching  this  one.    High  arch- 


THE  LAW  AND  ITS  FULFILLER.  255 

ing  above,  with  room  on  either  side,  a  gateway  for  a 
camel,  rises  the  first  command,  and,  with  head  erect 
and  broad  phylactery,  he  marches  on,  full  sail,  "  God, 
I  thank  thee  that  I  am  not  as  other  men, — no 
idolater,  no  blasphemer,  no  murderer,  no  extor- 
tioner,"— when  suddenly  he  strikes  his  head  a  hard 
blow  on  the  lintel,  for  the  vista  ends  in  "  Thou  shalt 
not  covet ;"  and  although  he  stoops  and  tries  to 
wriggle  through,  the  effort  is  in  vain.  It  is  the 
needle's  eye,  too  strait  for  anything  which  does  not 
yield  the  point,  and  cry,  "  God  be  merciful  to  me  a 
sinner." 

4.  A  fourth  peculiarity  is  the  place  here  given  to 
parental  authority,  and  consequently  to  filial  piety. 
It  has  been  much  debated  whether  the  fifth  com- 
mandment closes  the  first  table  or  commences  the 
second ;  and  we  deem  it  more  interesting  that  such 
a  controversy  should  exist,  than  important  to  have 
it  decided.  It  shows  how  well  the  precept  would 
suit  for  either  purpose, — to  shut  up  our  duties  to 
our  Father  in  heaven,  or  to  preface  our  duties  to 
one  another.  Like  that  remarkable  architecture  still 
found  in  the  land  of  Bashan,  where  a  door  will  be 
hewn  out  of  the  solid  rock,  and  door,  rock,  and  hinge 
are  all  a  single  stone,  the  two  tables  make  but  one 
law,  and  the  fifth  commandment  is  the  axis  or  hinge 
on  which  they  open  and  close — the  connecting  point 
where  you  pass  from  the  one  to  the  other.     "Ee- 


256  THE  LAW  AND  ITS  FULFILLER. 

vere  thy  God,"  says  the  first  table,  and  "Honour 
thy  father  and  mother,"  says  this  first  command- 
ment with  promise :  "Be  a  virtuous  citizen,"  says 
the  said  table,  but  in  order  to  this  be  first  an 
obedient  child."  "  God  teaches  us  reverence  for 
Himself  through  the  blessed  name  of  '  Father,'  and 
inspires  love  for  what  is  holy  by  the  boundless 
heart  of  '  mother.'  He  spreads  His  smile  over  the 
face  of  duty  by  the  socialities  of  home,  and  gives  us 
foretastes  of  heaven  in  the  domesticities  of  the 
Church  on  earth  :  so  that  if  parental  love  be  trifled 
with,  and  those  domestic  influences  in  which  is  so 
much  of  God's  own  Spirit  set  at  nought,  the  hold  of 
man  upon  God  is  all  but  snapped."-^  So,  children, 
obey  your  parents  in  the  Lord,  for  it  is  right,  and  it 
is  requisite  to  your  highest  welfare.  God  will  not 
accept  you  as  His  dear  and  duteous  child  unless 
you  be  affectionate  and  deferential  to  those  parents 
whom  in  life's  first  outset  He  has  made  so  much 
His  own  vicegerents,  and  whose  names  you  uttered, 
and  with  whose  faces  you  grew  familiar  before  you 
learned  His  own.  And  likewise,  ye  fathers,  provoke 
them  not  by  anger  and  caprice.  Be  so  affectionate 
that  they  needs  must  love  you,  but  withal  so  firm, 
so  fair,  so  consistent  that  they  still  must  "  honour" 
you.  As  far  as  possible  let  your  rule  be  a  copy 
from  God's  own  government, — kind  without  blind- 

1  Yes  or  No,  1. 105,  slightly  altered. 


THE  LA.W  AND  ITS  FULFILLER.  257 

ness  ;  merciful  and  gracious,  forgiving  transgression 
yet  not  clearing  the  guilty;  not  spoiling  by  soft 
indulgence,  and  yet  withholding  no  good  thing 
when  there  is  no  good  reason ;  insisting  on  obedi- 
ence, yet  always  open  to  that  cry  of  the  repentant 
prodigal,  "Father,  I  have  sinned  against  thee." 
Where  there  go  hand  in  hand  a  mother's  love, 
tender,  self-denying,  inextinguishable,  and  a  father's, 
wise,  firm,  and  far-seeing,  the  best  natural  founda- 
tion is  laid  for  piety ;  and  he  who  has  learned  to 
honour  such  a  father  and  mother  has  many  helps 
and  advantages  for  loving,  trusting,  and  revering 
the  God  whom  he  has  not  seen. 

So  there  it  stood,  this  law  so  holy,  just,  and  good, 
so  brief,  so  plain,  so  self-commending  in  its  require- 
ments, so  majestic  in  its  origin, — there  it  remained 
by  Jehovah's  finger  written  on  the  tablets  of  stone  ; 
by  Moses  transcribed  in  the  Book  of  the  Covenant ; 
engraven  on  the  minds  of  the  people  by  the  solem- 
nities of  so  august  a  promulgation.  There  that  law 
remained,  a  revelation  of  its  Author's  holiness,  a 
preacher  of  righteousness,  a  protest  against  the  sins 
of  men,  and  furnishing  a  text  of  tremendous  import 
to  every  Elijah  or  Malachi  or  John  the  Baptist  who 
came  enforcing  the  claims  of  God,  and  appealing  to 
the  conscience  of  his  countrymen.  There  it  stood, 
a  challenge  to  the  world, — a  moral  dynamometer 
asking  which  of  the  sons  of  Adam  could -raise  it  to 


258  THE  LAW  AND  ITS  FULFILLER. 

the  tenth  or  topmost  mark,  and  thus  earn  eternal 
life — a  brazen  gate,  with  a  new  Eclen  on  the  other 
side,  but  closed  with  a  ward-lock  of  ten  letters, 
which  could  not  be  wrenched  open,  and  of  which  no 
man  possessed  the  password. 

There  it  stood  for  fifteen  centuries,  when  at  last 
Christ  came.  Entering  on  His  mission,  one  of  the 
first  things  He  did  was  to  resuscitate  this  law  and 
expound  it  all  anew.  The  grand  old  pillar  had  dis- 
appeared. A  jungle  of  weeds  and  worthless  creepers 
had  sprung  up  around  it ;  and  instead  of  insisting 
on  the  pure  heart  and  the  holy  life,  the  school- 
divines  of  Palestine,  the  ritualists  and  word- splitters 
and  tradition-mongers,  laid  down  rules  about  the 
shape  of  scarves  and  the  breadth  of  hems,  and 
preached  about  the  washing  of  pots  and  tables  and 
the  paying  tithe  of  mint  and  cumin.  With  the 
sharp  sword  of  indignant  rebuke  the  Lord  Jesus 
cleared  away  this  noisome  tangle,  and  whilst  the 
newts  and  blind  worms  wriggled  off  from  the 
unwelcome  light,  the  Foundation  of  God,  that 
memorial  column  inscribed  with  man's  duty  and  his 
Maker's  will,  stood  forth  to  view,  and  beholders 
were  astonished  at  its  majesty.  The  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  was  (so  to  speak)  a  sequel  and  a  supplement 
to  Sinai;  but,  as  befitted  the  dawn  of  a  more  spiritual 
era,  there  was  no  cloud  nor  voice  of  trumpet  to  stun 
the  soul  and  overwhelm  the  sense ;  but  it  was  the 


THE  LAW  AND  ITS  FULFILLER.  259 

simple  force  of  truth,  the  tremendous  power  of 
heart- searching  words, — words  penetrating  as  Omni- 
science, and  weighty  as  unchanging  righteousness. 
Then,  as  in  many  others  of  His  sermons,  the  Lord 
Jesus  expounded  the  Decalogue.  From  its  negative 
He  printed  off  the  positive,  and  showed  how  beauti- 
ful is  the  resultant  holiness,  how  blessed  is  the  soul 
thus  brought  to  harmony  with  God  ;  and  by  some- 
thing more  divine  than  any  rhetoric,  by  the  autho- 
rity with  which  He  spake,  and  by  His  own  sublime 
separateness  from  sin.  He  awakened  in  His  hearers 
at  once  a  wonder  and  a  wistfulness  :  "  N'ever  man 
spake  as  this  man.      Oh  that  I  were  like  Him  !" 

More  especially  did  the  Lord  Jesus  fill  out  the 
law,  and  bring  its  sayings  into  relief,  by  laying 
stress  on  its  pervading  principle.  Of  that  law  the 
epitome  and  essence  is,  "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  thy  neighbour  as  thyself" 
As  we  saw  a  little  while  ago,  in  thus  grasping  the 
springs  of  action,  in  claiming  dominion  over  the 
thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart,  this  code  differs 
from  all  human  legislations,  and,  we  may  add,  from 
all  human  religions ;  but  it  differs  still  more  glori- 
ously in  the  same  direction  in  this  master-principle, 
in  thus  dictating  holy  love  as  the  mainspring  of  all 
goodness,  the  one  sufficient  but  essential  motive  of 
all  duty  to  God  and  those  around.  This  epitome 
was  not  unknown  to  Israel.     It  occurs  repeatedly 


260        THE  LAW  AND  ITS  FULFILLER. 

in  the  Pentateuch,  and  it  was  recited  by  the  young 
ruler  in  his  interview  with  Christ.  But  the  Lord 
Jesus  continually  returned  to  it.  It  was  the  motive 
with  Himself,  and  He  delighted  to  dwell  on  it.  In 
morals  and  religion  love  is  the  supreme  philosophy. 
"  If  men  loved  God  supremely,  there  would  be  no 
idolatry  upon  earth,  nor  any  of  its  attendant  abomi- 
nations ;  no  profaning  of  the  name  of  God,  nor 
making  a  gain  of  godliness  ;  no  perjuries  nor  hypo- 
crisies, no  pride  nor  self-complacency  under  the 
smiles  of  Providence ;  no  murmuring,  sullenness, 
nor  suicide  under  its  frowns.  Love  would  render 
it  men's  meat  and  drink  to  obey  God,  and  it  would 
take  everything  well  at  His  hands.  And  if  they 
loved  their  fellow-creatures  as  themselves,  there 
would  be  no  wars  between  nations ;  no  strifes 
between  neighbours  ;  no  intolerance  nor  persecuting 
bitterness  in  religion ;  no  deceit  nor  overreaching  in 
trade :  there  would  be  no  murders,  thefts,  nor  rob- 
beries ;  no  cruelty  in  parents  or  masters ;  no  in- 
gratitude nor  disobedience  in  children  or  servants; 
no  unkindness  nor  treachery  between  friends  ;  no 
jealousies  nor  bitter  contentions  in  families ;  in 
short,  none  of  those  streams  of  death,  one  or  more 
of  which  flow  through  every  vein  of  society,  and 
poison  its  enjoyments."'^ 

But  the  Lord  Jesus  was  not  content  with  ex- 

1  See  Andrew  Fuller's  Gosjoel  its  own  Witness,  ch.  iii . 


THE  LAW  AND  ITS  FULFILLER.  261 

pounding  the  law  of  God  :  He  exemplified  His  own 
exposition.  All  that  the  law  required  He  did  ;  all 
that  enters  into  our  idea  of  perfect  goodness  He 
was.  If  love  be  the  fulfilling  of  the  laAV,  love  was 
but  another  name  for  Jesus  Christ.  And  so,  con- 
fronting the  precept  in  all  its  breadth,  fathoming  it 
in  all  its  depth,  He  met  it  with  a  corresponding 
compliance — an  obedience  in  which  nothing  was 
exaggerated,  nothing  was  omitted.  Going  up  to  the 
adamantine  gate  with  its  lock  of  the  tenfold  ward, 
it  opened  to  the  word  "  Fulfilment,"  and  entering  in, 
the  Fulfiller  of  all  Eic^hteousness  walked  with  God — 
in  that  presence  where  there  is  fulness  of  joy,  and 
in  the  enjoyment  of  that  ineffable  complacency 
wherewith  the  Father  regarded  that  well-beloved 
Son  wlio  always  did  the  things  that  pleased  Him. 

Viewed  as  a  covenant — as  the  condition  of  life 
everlasting — the  Lord  Jesus  has  fulfilled  the  law. 
To  all  its  requirements,  on  behalf  of  His  people  He 
has  presented  an  obedience  spotless  as  His  own 
perfection  and  as  magnifying  to  that  law  as  may  be 
imagined  from  His  own  intrinsic  glory.  "  Your  work 
He  hath  done,  your  debt  He  hath  paid,"  and  in 
quitting  the  scene  of  His  sojourn  He  hath  left  an 
open  door  through  which  the  weakest  and  least 
worthy  may  enter  in,  and  through  the  merits  of  the 
great  Forerunner  find  acceptance  and  the  smile  of 
God. 


262  THE  LAW  AND  ITS  FULFILLER. 

Christ  has  done  more.  To  Israel  rescued  from 
Egypt  the  Decalogue  was  not  merely  a  code  of  laws 
or  rule  of  conduct,  but  it  formed  the  basis  or 
condition  of  a  national  covenant.  On  the  side  of 
Israel  that  covenant  was  perpetually  broken  and  its 
conditions  never  were  fulfilled ;  but  looking  for- 
ward to  a  happier  time,  by  the  mouth  of  Jeremiah 
Jehovah  promised,  "  Behold,  the  days  come,  saith 
the  Lord,  that  I  will  make  a  new  covenant  with  the 
house  of  Israel,  and  with  the  house  of  Judah ;  not 
according  to  the  covenant  that  I  made  with  their 
fathers,  in  the  day  that  I  took  them  by  the  hand,  to 
bring  them  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt ;  (which  my 
covenant  they  brake,  although  I  was  an  husband 
unto  them,  saith  the  Lord  ;)  but  this  shall  be  the 
covenant  that  I  will  make  with  the  house  of  Israel ; 
After  those  days,  saith  the  Lord,  I  will  put  my  law 
in  their  inward  parts,  and  write  it  in  their  hearts  ; 
and  will  be  their  God,  and  they  shall  be  my 
people."^ 

These  days  have  come.  The  first  of  them  was 
Pentecost.  Ten  days  after  Christ's  return  to  heaven 
— remarkably  enough,  it  was  the  anniversary  of 
Sinai,  the  day  when  the  law  was  given,  the  fiftieth 
day  after  the  Feast  of  Passover  :  but  instead  of 
thunder  and  the  voice  of  a  trumpet  there  was  a 
noise   as   of  a  rushing  mighty  wind,  and  instead 

1  Jer.  xxxi.  31-33. 


THE  LAW  AND  ITS  FULFILLER.  263 

of  forked  lightnings  on  the  distant  mountain- 
top,  on  the  heads  of  every  one  of  them  were 
flaming  mitres, — tongues  of  bright  but  unconsum- 
ing  fire.  It  was  no  second  giving  of  the  law;  it 
was  the  inauguration  of  the  gospel.  There  were 
no  stone  tables  in  their  hands,  but  heaven  was  in 
their  hearts,  for  the  Holy  Spirit  was  there.  Effec- 
tually set  free  from  the  old  legal  spirit,  they  were 
full  of  the  mind  that  was  in  Christ,  and  so  full  of 
might  and  power  on  behalf  of  Jesus ;  and  they  not 
only  spake  with  tongues  as  the  Holy  Spirit  gave 
them  utterance,  but  began  to  lead  such  lives  and 
entered  on  such  a  career  as  the  world  could  little 
have  expected  from  the  men  of  Galilee. 

And,  brethren,  this  is  our  dispensation.  The 
Holy  Spirit  has  been  given.  ISTot  as  in  the  mani- 
festations which  made  Pentecost  so  marvellous,  but 
in  mild,  assuring,  strengthening  power,  God's  Spirit 
will  be  with  you  if  you  ask  His  aid.  He  will 
awaken  in  you  a  hunger  after  righteousness, — a 
hunger  which  in  the  Father's  house  shall  be  abun- 
dantly filled.  He  will  teach  you  to  know  the  Lord, 
so  that  you  shall  not  need  to  ask  your  neighbour. 
He  will  show  you  God's  covenant — that  new  and 
better  one  of  which  the  terms  have  been  fulfilled 
by  the  Divine  Surety,  so  that  you  have  only  to  take 
the  benefit.  And  freeing  you  from  the  law's  con- 
demning, threatening   power,   He  will  write  it  in 


264  THE  LAW  AND  ITS  FULFILLER. 

your  heart,   endearing  it  as  the  rule  of  your  own 
conduct  and  the  revelation  of  God's  righteousness. 

Nor  will  you  like  this  law  the  less  because  its 
opening  sentence  is  the  gospel :  "  I  am  the  Lord 
thy  God :  thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before 
me."  '  Thou  shalt  have  no  god  but  me.'  Addressing 
every  sinful  child  of  Adam,  the  Possessor  of  heaven 
and  earth  says,  '  For  thy  own  God  take  me.'  Now 
that  in  the  person  of  Jesus  his  Son,  now  that  in 
the  person  of  Him  Avho  says,  "  I  am  Jesus  your 
Brother,"  God  has  drawn  near  to  our  guilty  family ; 
His  overture  to  each  is,  "I  am  the  Lord  thy  God," 
and  the  right  reciprocation  is,  "  My  Lord  and  my 
God."  "  0  my  soul,  thou  hast  said  unto  Jehovah, 
Thou  art  my  Lord."  Is  it  not  wonderful  ?  Is  not 
this  to  "bow  the  heavens  and  come  down"?  Is 
not  this  a  condescension  truly  divine,  that  address- 
ing dust  and  ashes  the  Eternal  should  say — that 
addressing  a  weak  empty  worm  the  All-sufficient 
should  say — that  addressing  sin  and  impurity 
Infinite  Holiness  should  say,  "  I  am  thy  God "  ? 
But  He  says  it.  To  put  an  end  to  all  cavil  He 
puts  the  gospel  into  the  form  of  a  precept,  and 
from  the  top  of  Sinai  and  in  the  forefront  of  the 
Decalogue  He  preaches  that  gospel,  and  to  every 
hearer  says — what  is  the  end  and  essence  of  the 
gospel, — "  For  thy  own  God  take  me."  Some 
think  it  presumption  to  appropriate  a  gift  unspeak- 


THE  LAW  AND  ITS  FULFILLER.  265 

able  or  to  accept  too  kind  an  invitation  ;  but  surely 
it  is  no  presumption  to  obey  a  precept — it  is  great 
presumption  to  refuse  compliance  with  God's  com- 
mand. And  God  commands  you  to  be  happy.  He 
commands  you  to  be  saved.  He  commands  you, 
as  your  very  first  act  of  obedience,  to  become  His 
subject  and  His  son.  Will  you  not  reply,  "  0  Lord, 
thoLi  art  my  God.  Other  gods  have  had  dominion 
over  me  ;  but  now  their  bands  are  loosed,  and  I  am 
thy  servant.  Whom  have  I  in  heaven  but  Thee  ? 
and  there  is  none  upon  earth  that  I  desire  beside 
Thee,  My  flesh  and  my  heart  faileth ;  but  God  is 
the  strength  of  my  heart  and  my  portion  for  ever." 


XYIL 

^h^   i:hc0j:ratii:  l^ing   anb  the 
(Dath  of  MhquntL 

(SINAT  COVENANT.) 

'"  And  Moses  went  up  unto  God,  and  the  Lord  called  unto  liim  out  of 
the  mountain,  saying,  Thus  shalt  thou  say  to  the  house  of  Jacob, 
and  tell  the  children  of  Israel ;  Ye  have  seen  what  I  did  unto  the 
Egyptians,  and  how  I  bare  you  on  eagles'  wings,  and  brought  you 
unto  myself.  Now  therefore,  if  ye  will  obey  my  voice  indeed, 
and  keep  my  covenant,  then  ye  shall  be  a  peculiar  treasure  unto 
me  above  all  people  ;  for  all  the  earth  is  mine.  And  ye  shall  be 
unto  me  a  kingdom  of  jDriests,  and  an  holy  nation.  These  are 
the  words  Avhich  thou  shalt  speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel." — 
Ex.  XIX.  3-6. 

"  And  Moses  came  and  told  the  people  all  the  words  of  the  Lord,  and 
all  the  judgments  :  and  all  the  people  answered  with  one  voice, 
and  said.  All  the  words  which  the  Lord  hath  said  will  we  do. 
And  Moses  wrote  all  the  words  of  the  Lord,  and  rose  up  early  in 
the  morning,  and  builded  an  altar  under  the  hill,  and  twelve 
pillars,  according  to  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel.  And  he  sent 
young  men  of  the  children  of  Israel,  which  offered  burnt- 
offerings,  and  sacrificed  peace-offerings  of  oxen  unto  the  Lord. 
And  Moses  took  half  of  the  blood,  and  put  it  in  basons  ;  and 
half  of  the  blood  he  sprinkled  on  the  altar.  And  he  took  the 
book  of  the  covenant,  and  read  in  the  audience  of  the  people  : 
and  they  said,  All  that  the  Lord  hath  said  will  we  do,  and  be  obe- 
dient. And  Moses  took  the  blood,  and  sprinkled  it  on  the  people, 
and  said.  Behold  the  blood  of  the  covenant,  which  the  Lord  hath 
made  with  you  concerning  all  these  words." — Ex.  xxiv.  3-8. 

Flavius  Josephus  was  a  learned  Jew  who  flour- 
islied  in  the  latter  half  of  the  first  century,  and  w^ho 


THE  OATH  OF  ALLEGIANCE.  267 

wrote  two  admirable  works  on  Hebrew  history. 
Besides  these  he  published  a  tract,  still  extant,  and 
known  as  Joseplius  against  Apion.  Of  this  tract 
one  object  is  to  explain  to  Gentile  readers  Hebrew 
peculiarities,  and  to  vindicate  as  facts  what  many  of 
them  deemed  mere  Jewish  fables.  In  the  course 
of  it,  having  occasion  to  explain  the  Hebrew  polity, 
he  uses  the  following  language  : — "  Some  legislators 
have  placed  their  people  under  a  monarchy,  others 
under  an  oligarchy,  and  others  have  resolved  them 
into  a  republic.  But  our  legislator  took  no  account 
of  these  modes  of  government,  but  instituted  what 
we  may  call  a  Theocracy^ — ascribing  all  power  and 
authority  to  God,  and  persuading  them  to  have 
regard  to  Him  as  the  author  of  all  their  privileges. 
He  taught  them  that  it  was  impossible  to  escape 
God's  observation  in  any  of  their  outward  actions  or 
even  in  any  of  their  inward  thoughts  ;  and  his  legis- 
lation had  this  advantage  over  other  legislations,  that- 
whereas  they  made  religion  a  part  of  virtue  Moses 
made  all  virtues  a  part  of  religion.  As  so  many 
ingredients  in  piety  towards  God,  he  included 
justice,  and  fortitude,  and  temperance,  and  the 
loyalty  to  one  another  of  the  different  members  of 
the  commonwealth."  ^ 

As  far  as  I  know,  it  is  in  the  passage  that  the 

^  Tis  diroi  iSiaaafiepos  tov  Xoyov  ^eoKpariav. 
2  Jos.  c.  Apion,  ii.  17. 


268  THE  THEOCEATIC  KING  AND 

word  "  Theocracy "  first  occurs —  a  word  so  con- 
venient and  so  constantly  used,  and  which  is  so 
admirably  descriptive  of  Hebrew  polity,  as  distin- 
guished from  every  other.  Commonwealths  like 
Athens  and  republican  Eome  were  self-governed ; 
monarchies  like  Persia  and  Egypt  were  king- 
goveriiccl ;  but  Israel,  rescued  from  Egypt,  and  as 
God  designed  to  plant  it  in  Palestine,  was  Gocl- 
governecl.  JSTeither  Moses,  nor  Aaron,  nor  Joshua 
claimed  to  be  king  or  first  consul  or  president  of 
the  republic ;  but  the  Lord  was  the  king,  the  Lord 
was  the  lawgiver,  and  Moses  and  all  the  rest  were 
only  His  ministers  or  servants — the  channels  or 
internuncios  through  whom  He  published  His  edicts 
and  made  known  His  will. 

Although  eventually  modified,  although  con- 
ceding to  the  foreseen  desire  of  the  people  to  have 
a  visible  head  of  their  commonwealth,  Jehovah 
Himself  gave  directions  as  to  the  regal  office,  yet 
the  true  and  original  type  was,  in  the  word  coined 
by  Josephus,  a  theocracy,  or  government  by  God. 
And  had  the  people  but  been  worthy,  no  position 
could  be  nobler.  Here  they  were  just  rescued  from 
thraldom — clean  sundered  from  Egypt  and  its 
abominable  idolatries,  baptized  in  the  Eed  Sea, 
on  the  eagle  wings  of  Omnipotence  transported  into 
this  large  place  with  its  sabbatic  silence  and  its 
impregnable    seclusion,   and   Jehovah   draws   near, 


THE  OATH  OF  ALLEGIANCE.  269 

and  if  they  themselves  are  inclined  and  feel  eqnal 
to  it,  He  offers  to  be  Himself  their  captain  and 
their  king.  "  Let  it  be  a  compact.  Make  a  cove- 
nant and  keep  it,  and  ye  shall  be  all  my  own — from 
all  earth's  peoples  selected  as  my  own  peculiar 
treasure, — a  kingdom  of  priests,  a  holy  nation." 
Had  the  people  but  been  equal  to  it  here  was  an 
occasion  unprecedented,  an  opportunity  given  to  a 
new  and  virgin  nation  to  start  on  a  career  the  like 
of  which  had  never  been  exhibited,  receiving  their 
laws  from  God  and  from  Him  deriving  their  pro- 
tection,— God  dwelling  amongst  them  palpably, 
fighting  their  battles,  brightening  their  abodes,  pre- 
serving their  going  out  and  coming  in,  and  with 
His  approving  presence  glorifying  their  entire 
existence. 

The  ideal  was  imperfectly  realized.  Except  to  a 
very  partial  extent,  and  for  brief  intervals,  the 
nation  never  rose  to  its  high  calling,  and  seldom 
was  it  that  either  the  camp  of  the  pilgrimage  or  the 
land  of  the  promise  suggested  the  heaven  on  earth 
which  it  ought  to  have  been.  But  no  knowledge 
of  Israel's  frailty,  no  foresight  of  human  failure, 
hindered  the  Most  High  from  propounding  His  own 
gracious  plan,  and  showing  Moses  in  the  mount  its 
pattern — a  pattern  suggestive  of  higher  things  else- 
where— for  if  God  was  so  kind  and  condescending 
as  to  come  down  and  offer  to  be  their  sovereign, 


270  THE  THEOCRATIC  KING  AND 

how  could  earthly  life  more  nearly  approximate  the 
life  of  the  celestials,  what  earthly  citizenship 
could  come  nearer  the  citizenship  in  heaven,  than 
that  nationality  which  recognised  the  Holy  One  of 
Israel  as  its  almighty  and  its  only  King  ? 

"When  in  the  history  of  a  nation  any  great  epoch 
arrives,  it  is  usual  to  emphasize  it  by  some  solemn 
celebration.  A  great  deliverance  has  taken  place, 
a  new  dynasty  has  acceded,  a  new  prince  begins  to 
reign ;  and  on  the  one  side  a  constitution  is  pro- 
claimed or  a  code  is  promulgated — on  the  other  the 
oath  of  allegiance  is  taken,  and  the  people  vow  to 
be  faithful  to  the  sovereign. 

In  one  sense  Jehovah  had  all  along  been  the  head 
of  the  Hebrew  race,  and  as  far  back  as  the  days  of 
Abraham  He  had  sworn,  "  I  will  be  a  God  to  thee 
and  to  thy  seed  after  thee."  But  now  that  seed 
had  become  a  mighty  nation,  a  separate  and  self- 
contained  community,  and,  released  from  slavery,  it 
was  in  a  position  to  judge  and  act  for  itself;  and 
therefore  the  opportunity  was  given  to  the  nation 
by  a  distinct  and  deliberate  act  to  accept  or  reject 
Jehovah  as  its  king. 

On  Jehovah's  side  a  constitution  had  already 
been  proclaimed,  and  a  code  promulgated  :  "  If  ye 
will  obey  my  voice  and  keep  my  covenant,  ye  shall 
be  my  peculiar  treasure,  a  kingdom  of  priests,  a 
holy  nation ; "  and  mounting  His  theocratic  throne 


THE  OATH  OF  ALLEGIANCE.  2  7 1 

amidst  thunder  and  lightning  and  the  pomp  of 
flaming  ""seraphim,  the  Eternal  had  proclaimed,  as 
the  essence  of  His  code  and  the  basis  of  all  further 
legislation,  the  Ten  Commands.  And  now  the 
time  was  come  that  the  people  should  plight  their 
faith,  and  vow  allegiance  to  their  mighty  but  con- 
descending Monarch.  And  with  a  view  to  this  they 
all  were  mustered,  and  by  some  suitable  arrange- 
ment Moses  orally  communicated  "  all  the  words  of 
the  Lord,  and  all  the  judgments."  They  were  good 
precepts  and  gracious  promises,  and  the  people  could 
only  answer  with  one  voice,  "  All  the  words  which 
the  Lord  hath  said  will  we  do."  This  preliminary 
assent  received,  Moses  retired  and  consigned  to 
writing  the  various  provisions — the  Decalogue,  and 
most  probably  those  regulations  contained  in  the 
intervening  chapters  ;  and  next  morning  early  he 
came  forth  with  the  written  document,  and  met  the 
assembled  people. 

That  day  was  a  high  day, — the  swearing-in  of  an 
assembled  people  to  their  Eedeemer- Sovereign, — 
and  with  much  work  to  do,  Moses  rose  betimes. 
Beneath  the  mountain,  and  at  God's  footstool,  he 
reared  an  altar,  and  facing  it,  to  denote  the  twelve 
tribes  of  Israel,  he  set  up  twelve  pillars ;  and  as 
soon  as  the  young  men  appointed  for  the  purpose 
had  slain  the  calves  and  bullocks,  and  half  the  blood 
had  been  poured  upon  the   altar,  and  whilst  the 


272  THE  THEOCllATIC  KING  AND 

smoke  of  the  oblation  began  to  ascend  into  the 
serene  summer  sky,  Moses  produced  the  roll  of  the 
covenant,  and  from  the  volume  of  that  book  read  all 
the  words  which  God  Himself  had  dictated ;  and 
when  to  the  august  recital  from  over  all  the  plain 
a  multitudinous  murmur  answered,  "  All  that  the 
Lord  hath  spoken  will  we  do,  and  be  obedient,"  to 
ratify  the  deed  Moses  took  a  hyssop- sprinkler,  and, 
dipping  it  in  mingled  blood  and  water,  he  showered 
the  crimson  rain  over  the  swarming  throng,  and  by 
way  of  signature  and  seal,  with  a  few  drops  of  the 
self- same  blood  he  bedew^ed  the  all-important  docu- 
ment, and  set  it  aside  till  that  sacred  shrine  was 
ready,  soon  after  known  as  the  casket  of  the  cove- 
nant, the  Ark  of  the  Testimony.  And  from  this 
great  swearing-in  at  the  foot  of  the  mount  which 
might  not  be  touched,  the  people  passed  away  with 
a  sublime  and  awful  consciousness  that  God  had 
spoken  and  so  had  they.  "  I  wdll  be  your  God,"  had 
Jehovah  said,  ''  And  all  that  Thou  hast  spoken  will 
we  do,"  had  they  replied,  and,  registered  in  heaven, 
it  seemed  as  if  the  vow  were  written  on  the  floor 
and  roof  at  once  of  that  great  desert  sanctuary. 
Gone  into  God's  memory,  if  from  their  own  it  ever 
faded,  the  stones  of  that  altar  and  these  twelve 
pillars  would  cry  aloud  and  condemn  the  covenant- 
breakers  ;  and  even  although  the  volume  of  the 
book  should  perish,  and  no  blood  of  confirmation 


THE  OATH  OF  ALLEGIANCE.  273 

blush  again  to  confront  the  false  swearers,  the  words 
of  that  great  vow  had  burned  deep  into  every  con- 
science, and  rather  than  that  God  should  be  without 
a  witness  Sinai  would  once  more  break  silence,  and 
that  "faithful  witness  in  heaven,"  the  sun,  which 
that  morning  shone  over  the  grey  wilderness  of 
Paran,  would  publish  to  the  universe  the  treason. 

It  was  a  great  event,  the  transaction  of  that  day, 
which  on  the  separate  and  self-contained  nationality 
of  Israel  placed  a  crown  of  glory,  by  superadding 
Jehovah's  sovereignty.  Every  devout  and  believing 
soul  through  that  populous  camp,  looking  at  the 
fiery-cloudy  column,  as  it  moved  ahead,  at  once  a 
royal  standard  and  an  aerial  fortress,  could  say  to 
himself  with  thrilling  assurance,  "  The  Lord  is  our 
defence ;  the  Holy  One  of  Israel  is  our  King." 
And  although  in  later  centuries  between  the  people 
and  their  King  immortal  and  invisible  a  monarch 
was  interposed,  both  visible  and  mortal,  faith  and 
affection  always  ascended  to  Jehovah  as  the  true 
king  in  Jeshurun,  and  under  pious  princes  like 
Hezekiah  and  Josiah,  when  the  covenant  was  re- 
newed, overlooking,  or  at  least  overleaping  the 
earthly  ruler,  the  people  swore  again  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  Sovereign  Supreme,  the  Divine 
and  undying  Head  of  the  Hebrew  commonwealth. 

This  theocratic  element  accounts  for  many  things 
in  Hebrew  institutions  and  Old  Testament  history. 

s 


274  THE  THEOCEATIC  KING  AN^D 

For  instance,  it  explains  the  severity  with  which 
idolatry  was  punished.  It  was  not  only  a  sin,  but 
a  treason.  Amalek  was  not  more  truly  the  king  of 
Moab,  Pharaoh  was  not  more  exclusively  king  of 
Egypt,  than  Jehovah  was  king  of  Israel ;  and  the 
Israelite  who  bowed  the  knee  to  Bel  or  Moloch,  who 
adored  the  golden  calf  or  Apis,  he  not  only  com- 
mitted a  gross  and  disgraceful  sin,  but  a  capital 
offence,  and  for  revolting  against  his  Liege,  his  Lord 
and  Sovereign,  he  was  liable  to  be  cut  off  from 
among  his  people.  And  although  there  were  good 
reasons  over  and  above  why  such  outrages  as  the 
golden  calf  should  be  visited  by  signal  retribution, 
it  must  not  be  forgotten  as  an  important  element 
that  the  thousands  who  were  cut  down  on  that 
occasion  were  mutineers  against  their  Captain, — 
rebels  caught  red-handed  in  revolt  against  their 
King.  And  so,  although  in  a  somewhat  different 
way,  the  same  principle  explains  other  incidents  in 
which  our  first  feeling  may  be  a  sense  of  extreme 
severity.  For  instance,  soon  after  Jericho  was 
taken,  the  Israelites  were  mysteriously  repulsed  in 
an  assault  on  Ai.  Inquiring  at  the  Lord,  the 
answer  was,  "  Israel  hath  sinned,  and  they  have 
transgressed  my  covenant :  for  they  have  even  taken 
of  the  accursed  thing,  and  they  have  also  stolen, 
yea  and  dissembled  also,  and  have  put  it  among 
their  own  stuff."     As  Josephus  says,  "  The  Israel- 


THE  OATH  OF  ALLEGIANCE.  275 

ites  were  taught  that  nothing  could  escape  the 
observation  of  their  Divine  King,  either  in  their 
outward  actions  or  their  inward  thoughts."  But 
this  was  a  lesson  hard  to  learn,  and  needed  to  be 
enforced  by  some  startling  instances.  And  here 
was  one.  Flushed  with  an  easy  and  surprising  suc- 
cess at  Jericho,  they  were  all  the  rather  chagrined 
by  their  defeat  at  Ai.  It  seemed  utterly  inexpli- 
cable, but,  though  burning  to  revenge  the  disaster, 
they  were  told  it  would  be  vain  to  resume  the 
battle  till  a  secret  fault  was  confessed  and  put 
away.  So  all  pleading  ignorance,  it  was  referred 
back  to  God's  omniscience,  and  when  amongst  the 
assembled  million  His  finger  was  firmly  placed  on 
the  son  of  Carmi,  "  My  son,"  said  Joshua,  "  give 
glory  to  the  God  of  Israel,  and  confess  what  thou 
hast  done ;"  and  as  the  golden  wedge  and  Baby- 
lonish garment  came  to  light,  the  troubler  of  Israel 
paid  the  forfeit  not  more  of  his  covetousness  than 
of  his  atheism,  and  as  the  smoke  of  Achan's  funeral 
pile  ascended  in  the  vale  of  Achor,  spectators  slowly 
turned  away  musing  on  the  painful  lesson,  but 
penetrated  with  the  conviction, — "  Yea,  darkness 
hideth  not  from  Thee." 

Need  I  say  how,  under  the  new  dispensation,  the 
theocratic  principle  has  been  perfected  !  It  is  no 
longer  national  but  personal.  The  Most  High  does 
not  now  lay  hold  of  a  captive  nation,  and,  wrenching 


276  THE  THEOCRATIC  KIXG  AND 

it  from  the  jaws  of  the  oppressor,  carry  it  on  eagle 
wings  into  some  desert  sanctuary ;  but  He  lays  hold 
on  an  individual.  Some  slave  of  Satan  He  singles. 
out,  and,  rescuing  him  from  his  cruel  taskmaster. 
He  brings  him  to  Himself  and  says,  "  I  will  be  thy 
God ;  take  hold  of  my  covenant  and  thou  shalt  be 
my  peculiar  treasure;"  and  thenceforward  made  a 
king  and  a  priest  himself,  he  becomes  a  God-governed 
man. 

And  indeed  the  only  way  to  be  truly  free  is  to  be 
God-governed ;  the  only  man  who  walks  at  liberty 
is  the  man  who  is  "  under  law  to  Christ."  During 
the  days  of  the  Saviour's  sojourn  there  w^ere  men 
possessed  by  the  deviL  As  if  to  impersonate  and 
make  palpable  those  evil  propensities  by  which  bad 
men  are  borne  along,  and  in  order  to  make  more 
personal  the  contest  between  the  devil  and  Him 
who  came  to  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil,  in  some 
instances  it  was  permitted  to  demons  to  take  per- 
sonal possession  of  bad  men ;  that  is  to  say,  when  a 
bad  man  had  sold  himself  to  some  course  of  wicked- 
ness, an  evil  spirit  took  possession  of  him  and  urged 
him  on  to  yet  wilder  extremes  of  the  self- same 
wickedness  ;  and  even  although  lucid  moments  might 
intervene  during  which  the  man  grew  sick  of  his 
foul  familiar,  and  would  fain  have  turned  him  out, 
the  unclean  spirit  was  sure  to  come  back  again  and 
carry  his  unhappy  victim  captive  at  his  will;  and 


THE  OATH  OF  ALLEGIANCE.  277 

it  was  not  till  Jesus  spoke  that  mighty  word,  which 
"  devils  fear  and  fly,"  that  the  foul  fiend  absconded 
to  his  own  place  and  left  the  vacated  house  open  to 
a  worthier  occupancy.  If  that  vacated  sanctuary 
received  the  Saviour — if  into  his  thankful  heart  the 
man  received  his  mighty  Deliverer,  by  becoming  the 
servant  of  Christ  he  became  master  of  himself.  He 
who  had  been  fiend-possessed  became  self-possessed 
by  becoming  God-possessed, — Christ's  servant,  and 
so  his  own  master. 

And  so,  if  you  have  not  given  yourself  to  God 
you  are  still  the  servant  of  sin ;  his  servant  you  are 
whom  you  obey,  whether  of  sin  unto  death,  or  of 
obedience  unto  righteousness.  If  you  have  not 
given  yourself  to  God,  you  are  still  in  the  bond  of 
iniquity ;  you  carry  your  Pharaoh  within — a  tyrant 
in  the  shape  of  some  master-sin,  or  "many  masters" 
— so  many  petty  tyrants,  so  many  domineering  task- 
masters in  the  shape  of  divers  lusts  and  passions — 
foul  desires,  fantastic  follies,  lawless  affections,  to 
which  you  yield  by  turns — sometimes  cursing  your 
infatuation,  and  sometimes  drowning  remorse  in  the 
delirium  of  a  new  excitement,  till,  your  strength  and 
substance  wasted,  youth  gone,  strength  and  beauty 
gone,  money  gone,  health  gone,  life  going,  eternity 
coming,  you  exclaim,  "  1  have  played  the  fool ;  I 
have  erred  exceedingly." 

Do  you  desire  deliverance  ?    Would  you  be  free 


278  THE  THEOCRATIC  KING  AND 

from  this  hateful  dominion,  this  horrible  lust,  this 
frantic  possession  ?  Then  give  yourself  to  God.  In 
the  lucid  interval  fall  at  Christ's  feet,  and,  like  the 
dispossessed  demoniac,  beg  that  He  would  not  leave 
you,  nor  suffer  you  to  leave  Him ;  and  as  Christ's 
Spirit  takes  possession  of  your  mind,  as  in  answer  to 
prayer  the  Comforter  comes,  in  the  peace  and  the 
purity  which  He  sheds  abroad,  unruly  emotions  will 
subside,  angry  passions  will  obey  the  voice,  "  Peace, 
be  still ! "  and  a  stronger  than  Satan  having  entered 
in  and  expelled  the  usui3)er,  you  will  taste  the 
blessings  of  a  renovated  heart  and  a  heavenly  rule, 
and  will  find  that  you  have  returned  to  your  right 
mind  in  returning  to  your  rightful  Master. 

In  the  gospel,  God  invites  each  of  us  to  take 
Himself  for  our  God,  and  He  offers  to  take  each  of 
us  as  His  ]Deculiar  treasure ;  and  it  is  well  that,  like 
Israel  at  Sinai,  this  kind  offer  of  His  should  be  met 
by  an  act  of  our  own,  express  and  explicit.  Personal 
covenanting  and  solemn  self- dedications  were  not 
unusual  among  our  godly  ancestors,  and  documents 
like  the  following  still  are  extant : — 

"  Oct  20,  1686.— I  take  God  the  Father  to  be  my 
chiefest  good  and  highest  end.  I  take  God  the  Son 
to  be  my  Prince  and  Saviour.  I  take  God  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  be  my  Sanctifier,  Teacher,  Guide,  and  Com- 
forter.    I  take  the  Word  of  God  to  be  my  rule  in 


THE  OATH  OF  ALLEGIANCE.  279 

all  my  actions,  and  the  people  of  God  to  be  my 
people  in  all  conditions.  And  this  I  do  deliber- 
ately, sincerely,  freely,  and  for  ever. 

(Signed)  "  Matthew  Henry." 

And  as  a  date,  as  a  definitive  landmark  and  start- 
ing-point, there  may  be  an  advantage  in  a  form  thus 
written  and  subscribed ;  but  if  made  too  minute, 
above  all,  if  in  any  way  it  assume  the  form  of  an 
oath  or  vow,  it  will  become  a  snare  and  a  source  of 
subsequent  distress  and  embarrassment,  for,  after 
every  declension  and  failure,  you  will  feel  that  you 
have  been  unfaithful  in  your  covenant,  and  that  you 
have  sworn  deceitfully.  Happily  for  us,  God's  voice 
has  been  obeyed,  and  His  covenant  has  been  kept 
on  our  behalf  by  our  glorious  Eepresentative,  and 
it  only  remains  for  us,  by  a  meek  and  thankful 
assent,  to  enter  into  all  the  blessings  thus  bought 
for  us,  whilst,  with  a  voice  more  subduing  than  the 
trumpet  of  Sinai,  Christ's  sacrifice  calls  for  our  sur- 
render. Ye  are  not  your  own ;  ye  are  bought  with 
a  price  ;  tell  the  Saviour  how  thankful  you  are,  and 
how  willing  ;  and  whilst  you  deeply  feel  that  for  all 
your  future  constancy  you  are  dependent  on  His  own 
good  Spirit  in  the  competition  for  your  heart's  supre- 
macy, do  you  decide  for  that  King  who  reigns  in 
righteousness,  and  who  makes  His  subjects  kings 
and  priests  unto  God  His  Father. 


XVIII. 

''And  the  Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  saying,  On  the  first  day  of  the 
first  month  shalt  thou  set  up  the  tabernacle  of  the  tent  of  the  con- 
gregation ;  and  thou  shalt  put  therein  the  ark  of  the  testimony," 
etc.— Ex.  XL.  1-38. 

Israel  had  escaped  from  Egypt ;  the  Moral  Law- 
had  been  given  from  Mount  Sinai ;  the  Most  High 
had  revealed  Himself  as  the  self-existent  and  eternal 
I  AM,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  lords  many  and  gods 
many  which  Egypt  and  other  nations  adored,  and  a 
very  solemn  transaction  had  just  been  completed, 
on  which,  as  on  a  nail  fastened  in  a  sure  place, 
hung  the  whole  future  of  the  peculiar  people.  To 
the  nation  whom  He  had  so  signally  rescued,  whom 
through  the  Eed  Sea  and  across  the  burning  sands 
He  had  borne  on  wings  of  His  own  omnipotence 
into  the  heart  of  Horeb,  to  the  nation  resting  in 
this  safe  asylum  on  the  way  to  its  promised  land, 
Jehovah  drew  near,  and,  claiming  to  be  their  God, 
He  at  the  same  time  offered  to  be  their  King.     He 

280 


THE  TABERNACLE.  281 

offered  to  bring  them  into  a  relation  to  Himself 
such  as  no  other  nation  had  ever  occupied  : — "  If 
ye  will  obey  my  voice  and  keep  my  covenant,  ye 
shall  be  a  peculiar  treasure  unto  me  above  all 
people ;  .  ye  shall  be  unto  me  a  kingdom  of  priests 
and  a  holy  nation."  And  God's  gracious  overture 
the  people  joyfully  reciprocated.  On  a  set  day  and 
a  solemn,  they  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  their 
Heavenly  King,  "  All  that  the  Lord  hath  said  will 
we  do,  and  be  obedient;"  and  thenceforward  the 
Head  of  their  nation  was  neither  Pharaoh  nor 
Moses  nor  any  mortal  man ;  they  had  a  Sovereign 
who  was  deathless  and  invincible  :  their  only  and 
immediate  Monarch  was  God  ;  the  Holy  One  of 
Israel  was  their  King. 

This  theocracy  or  government  by  God  was  the 
great  distinction  of  the  Hebrew  people  ;  and  the 
day  when  it  was  ratified  by  covenant  maybe  deemed 
the  main  hinge  of  Hebrew  history.  That  great 
transaction,  the  National  Covenant,  we  have  already 
considered,  and  we  must  now  turn  our  thoughts  to 
some  of  those  details  which  necessarily  followed. 

And  in  considering  these,  we  must  not  forget 
that  Israel's  King  was  also  Israel's  God,  and  that  in 
the  peculiar  politico-religious  organization  which  the 
arrangement  involved,  it  was  needful  to  provide  at 
once  for  the  worship  of  God  and  for  the  social  wel- 
fare of  the  people. 


282  THE  TABERNACLE. 

The  Most  High — the  heaven  of  heavens  cannot 
contain  Him  ;  but  linked  to  matter  as  we  are,  living 
in  these  bodies  and  limited  to  a  certain  space, 
locality  enters  into  our  thoughts  when  we  think  of 
God  ;  and  ever  since  we  were  banished  from  the 
bowers  of  Eden,  the  longing  of  all  earnest  spirits 
has  been  after  something  palpable  and  near,  a  long- 
ing after  God  manifest  and  God  in  the  midst  of  us 
as  well  as  after  God  propitious  and  reconciled. 

This  longing  of  devout  and  earnest  spirits  was 
most  graciously  met  in  the  camp  of  Israel.  From 
the  memorable  night  of  the  exodus  there  had  always 
moved  before  the  camp  or  hovered  over  it  a  mystic 
symbol,  cloud  by  day  and  fire  by  night,  the  sign  and 
cognisance  of  their  celestial  Leader.  And  now 
Jehovah  said,  "Let  them  make  me  a  sanctuary, 
that  I  may  dwell  among  them  ;"^  and  to  the  invi- 
tation the  people  replied  so  willingly  that  gold  and 
silver  came  in  to  the  amount  of  a  quarter  of  a  million 
sterling.^  With  this  large  offering,  acting  under 
Divine  direction,  and  carrying  out  the  work  with 
the  aid  of  Aholiab  and  Bezaleel,  Moses  reared  and 
furnished  forth  the  tabernacle. 

It  was  a  great  day,  that  New -Year's  day  when 
the  tabernacle  was  at  last  erected.  It  was  twelve 
months  after  their  departure  from  Egypt,  and  the 
first  New-Year's  day  which  they  had  spent  in  the 

1  Ex.  XXV.  8.         2  Ex.  xxxviii.  24-31 ;  see  Kitto's  Pictorial  Bible. 


THE  TABEENACLE.  283 

wilderness.  Everything  was  ready.  At  measured 
intervals  were  placed  sockets  or  pediments  of  silver, 
and  on  these  were  set  up  columns  of  acacia-wood  so 
thickly  overlaid  that  they  stood  up  like  eight-and- 
forty  golden  pillars,  joined  together  by  transverse 
beams,  similarly  resplendent.  Inside  of  these  pillars 
were  suspended  gorgeous  tapestries,  with  cherubim 
wrought  into  a  ground  alternately  blue,  purple,  and 
scarlet ;  and  outside  the  walls  were  covered  suc- 
cessively by  hair- cloth,  by  a  sort  of  morocco  leather, 
and  on  the  top  of  all,  as  a  protection  from  the  weather, 
by  a  stout  pall  of  badgers'  skins  ;  and  the  roof 
resembled  the  sides,  so  that  if  any  one  could  have 
entered,  he  would  have  found  himself  in  an  oblong 
apartment,  about  fifty  feet  in  length  and  one-third 
as  broad,  roofed  over  and  hung  round  with  curtains 
of  delicate  texture,  all  wimpling  with  the  golden 
wings  of  cherubim.  But  inside  the  full  length  was 
never  seen,  for  at  the  end  ten  cubits  were  cut  off  to 
form  the  Holy  of  Holies.  This  inner  shrine  was 
divided  from  the  rest  of  the  tabernacle  by  a  veil  or 
beautiful  curtain  of  byssus,  and  contained  the  Ark  of 
the  Covenant.  That  ark  was  a  golden  chest,  into 
which  Moses  put  the  two  tables  of  the  Law,  Aaron's 
blossoming  staff,  an  urn  full  of  manna,  and  the  book 
of  the   Covenant;^    and  it  was   surmounted  by  a 

1  Kalisch  {Exochis,  p.  479)  says  that  the  two  tables  alone  were  in 
the  ark,  the  other  objects  before  or  beside  it. 


284  THE  TABERNACLE. 

throne  entirely  golden,  backed  and  over-canopied 
by  two  clierubs  with  outspread  wings — a  mercy- 
seat  or  throne  of  grace  reserved  for  the  Shekinah, 
for  Him  who,  marching  in  the  cloudy  pillar,  also  sat 
between  the  cherubim.  This  inner  shrine — the 
throne -room  and  presence-chamber  of  the  Eternal — 
was  trod  by  mortal  foot  but  once  a  year,  on  that 
great  day  of  atonement  when,  protected  by  sacri- 
ficial blood,  the  High  Priest  entered — entered  to 
present  the  propitiation  for  the  people,  and  returned 
to  show  that  God  was  still  good  to  Israel ;  but  inside 
the  tabernacle  the  more  spacious  anteroom  called  '"'the 
Holy  Place"  was  accessible  to  all  the  priesthood. 
By  night  and  day  it  derived  its  illumination  from 
a  massive  candelabrum  of  seven  branches,  with 
lamps  of  oil-olive,  softly  burning;  and  this  apart- 
ment had  an  atmosphere  exquisite  with  odour :  for 
another  prominent  object  in  it  was  a  golden  altar 
on  which  no  victim  was  ever  laid,  but  on  which 
Aaron  burned  incense  twice  each  day.  The  other 
remarkable  object  in  the  furniture  of  this  Holy 
Place  was  a  golden  table  on  which  every  Sabbath 
twelve  loaves  of  unleavened  bread  were  placed — the 
shew-bread  or  loaves  of  presentation — on  behalf  of 
the  twelve  tribes,  a  recognition  or  remembrance  to 
Him  who  day  by  day  was  giving  them  their  daily 
bread.  All  round  the  tabernacle  ran  a  spacious 
enclosure,  open  overhead,  but  fenced  round  by  cur- 


THE  TABERNACLE.  285 

tains,  with  an  entrance  from  the  east,  and  open  to 
every  Israelite.  The  most  striking  objects  within 
this  court  of  the  congregation  were  a  large  altar  and 
a  basin- fountain  of  brass.  This  fountain  or  laver 
was  intended  for  the  priests,  who  there  washed  their 
hands  and  feet  before  engaging  in  any  sacred  ser- 
vice ;  and  it  was  interesting  as  a  memorial  of  female 
piety.  Brass  was  scarce  in  the  camp  of  Israel,  but 
the  ladies  surrendered  their  burnished  mirrors  in 
number  sufficient  to  construct  this  ornamental  tank, 
a  free-will  offering.^ 

The  tabernacle  was  a  peripatetic  shrine, — a  cathe- 
dral that  could  be  carried  about, — a  temple  of  canvas 
and  tapestry  which  accompanied  Israel  in  their 
wanderings,  and  which  sufficed  as  a  visible  centre  of 
worship,  till  such  time  as  the  waving  tapestry 
solidified  into  carvings  of  cedar,  and  the  badger- 
skins  were  replaced  by  tall  arcades  of  marble,  and 
the  tent  had  grown  to  a  temple.  And  that  New- 
Year's  day,  when  Aaron  and  his  sons  came  forth  in 
the  gorgeous  garments  which  they  now  for  the  first 
time  put  on,  and  when  over  the  dedicated  shrine 
the  cloud  descended,  and  such  a  glory  filled  the 
tabernacle  that  Moses  and  the  attendant  ministers 
were  forced  to  withdraw,  devotion  must  have  felt 
something  like  what,  on  a  similar  occasion,  Solomon 
expressed,  "  Will  God  in  very  deed  dwell  with  man 

1  Ex.  xl.  17-33. 


2 86  THE  TABERNACLE. 

upon  earth  ? "  and  as  all  through  that  New- Year's 
night  and  the  many  nights  succeeding,  above  the 
the  tent  of  the  testimony  there  was  seen  "  the 
appearance  of  fire  until  the  morning,"  ^  each  believ- 
ing Israelite  laid  him  down  and  took  his  quiet 
sleep,  fearing  no  evil,  for  He  that  keepeth  Israel 
would  neither  slumber  nor  sleep. 

It  was  a  fine  ending  to  that  first  year  in  the  wil- 
derness, and  it  is  a  fine  ending  to  the  book  of  Exodus 
(xl.  34-38).  "  At  the  beginning  of  the  book  we 
found  the  descendants  of  Jacob  a  multitude  of  iU- 
treated  and  idolatrous  slaves ;  we  leave  them  a  free 
nation,  the  guardians  of  eternal  truth,  the  witnesses 
of  overwhelming  miracles.  Eeleased  from  the  vain 
and  busy  worldliness  of  Egjrpt,  they  encamp  in  the 
silent  desert,  in  isolated  and  solemn  solitude,  hold- 
ing converse  only  with  their  thoughts  and  with 
their  God.  Before  them  stood  the  visible  habitation 
of  Him  whom  they  acknowledged  and  adored  as 
their  rescuer  from  Egyptian  thraldom ;  the  mysteri- 
ous structure  disclosed  to  them  many  profound 
ideas  of  their  new  religion  ;  and  they  respected  the 
priests  as  their  representatives  and  their  mediators. 
Between  God  and  His  people  communion  was 
opened  ;  life  had  its  aim,  and  virtue  its  guide."  ^ 

In  order  to  complete  our  view  of  the  Hebrew 
religion    and    worship,   we    ought  to   examine   its 

1  Numb.  ix.  15.  ^  Kalisch  on  Exodus,  p.  621. 


THE  TABERNACLE.  287 

various  sacrifices  and  ceremonies  ;  the  sin-offerings, 
the  trespass- offerings,  the  thank-offerings ;  the 
festivals,  the  passover,  the  feast  of  tabernacles, 
the  great  day  of  atonement ;  the  law  of  the  leper, 
the  laws  about  priests  and  Levites.  But  to  do  this 
would  need  many  lectures.  Those  who  would  like 
to  examine  the  subject  fully  will  find  abundant 
information  in  Bonar  on  Leviticus,  in  Principal 
Fairbairn's  Tyj^ology  of  Scri2Jture,  and  in  Dr. 
Gordon's  Christ  in  the  Old  Testament.  Of  the 
entire  subject  there  is  an  excellent  epitome  in 
Cowper's  hymn  on  the  "  Old  Testament  Gospel," 
which  even  those  who  are  most  familiar  with  it  will 
forgive  me  for  reading  over  : — 

**  Israel,  in  ancient  days, 

Not  only  had  a  view 
Of  Sinai  in  a  blaze, 

But  learn'd  the  Gospel  too  ; 
The  types  and  figures  were  a  glass 
In  which  they  saw  a  Saviour's  face. 

The  Paschal  sacrifice, 

And  blood-besprinkled  door, 
Seen  with  enlighten'd  eyes 
And  once  applied  with  power. 
Would  teach  the  need  of  other  blood 
To  reconcile  an  angry  God. 

The  Lamb,  the  Dove,  set  forth 

His  perfect  innocence. 
Whose  blood  of  matchless  worth 

Should  be  the  soul's  defence ; 


288  THE  TABERNACLE. 

For  He  who  can  for  sin  atone, 
Must  have  no  failings  of  his  own. 

The  scape-goat  on  his  head 

The  people's  trespass  bore, 
And  to  the  desert  led, 
Was  to  be  seen  no  more  : 
In  him  our  Surety  seem'd  to  say, 
'Behold,  I  bear  your  sins  away.' " 

Dipt  in  his  fellow's  blood, 

The  living  bird  went  free  ; 
The  type,  well  understood, 
Expressed  the  sinner's  plea ; 
Described  a  guilty  soul  enlarged. 
And  by  a  Saviour's  death  discharged. 

Jesus,  I  love  to  trace, 

Throughout  the  sacred  page. 
The  footsteps  of  Thy  grace, — 
The  same  in  every  age  ! 
Oh  !   grant  that  I  may  faithful  be 
To  clearer  light  vouchsafed  to  me  !  " 

Eeverting  to  the  Tabernacle  :  It  served  its  pur- 
pose. At  the  time  it  was  set  up  the  worship  of  the 
one  living  and  true  God  had  become  almost  extinct ; 
but  the  Tabernacle,  with  its  successor  the  Temple, 
was  a  perpetual  protest  against  idolatry, — a  centre 
and  rallying-point  to  monotheistic  worship.  And 
the  doctrine  of  the  Divine  unity  and  spirituality  has 
triumphed.  Monotheists,  or  believers  in  one  God, 
supreme,  self- existent,  and  distinct  from  the  uni- 
verse He  has  created,  are  not  only  counted  by  hun- 


THE  TABERNACLE.  289 

dreds  of  millions,  but  they  include  all  that  is  worth 
naming  of  the  world's  intelligence  and  civilisation. 
All  the  inhabitants  of  Europe  are  Monotheists. 
Every  Christian  is  a  Monotheist,  so  is  every  Jew,  so 
is  every  Mussulman. 

But  the  tabernacle  had  a  purpose  still  more  pre- 
cise, more  practical  and  home-coming.  So  to  speak, 
it  brought  God  again  into  the  midst  of  men.  He 
who  in  the  bowers  of  Eden  had  been  so  friendly  and 
familia,r,  but  who  at  man's  sin  withdrew,  and  who 
from  that  time  had  rarely  broken  the  silence,  this 
God  it  again  brought  into  our  midst,  and  recording 
His  name  in  His  appointed  place.  He  declared  it  to 
be  His  fixed  abode  and  chosen  dwelling. 

And  yet  condescending,  close-coming  as  w^as  this 
sojourn  of  Deity  in  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Testimony 
— assuring  as  it  was  to  see  in  the  midst  of  the  camp 
those  symbols  of  propitious  and  protecting  Omni- 
potence, and  in  cases  of  emergency  delightful  as  it 
was  to  be  able  to  inquire  at  the  oracle,  and  from 
the  Urim  and  Thummim  receive  a  decisive  response, 
there  was  still  in  the  midst  of  the  manifestation 
something  withheld,  and  notwithstanding  the  local 
proximity  there  remained  on  many  a  mind  a  certain 
sense  of  remoteness.  The  symbols  were  there,  and 
Omnipotence  was  there ;  but  the  cloud  was  not 
God,  the  fire  was  not  God,  the  tabernacle  was  not 
God ;  and  there  still  was  room  for  the  prayer,  "  0 

T 


290  THE  TABERNACLE. 

Thou  that  dwellest  between  the  cherubim,  shine 
forth/'  and  in  sight  of  the  Shekinah,  and  his  own 
face  shining  with  insufferable  lustre,  Moses  still 
could  pray,  "  0  Lord,  I  beseech  Thee,  show  me  Thy 
glory."  But  as  soon  as  a  body  was  prepared  for 
God's  beloved  Son,  as  soon  as  the  Word  came  and 
tabernacled  amongst  us,  the  glory  was  beheld  for 
which  an  expectant  Church  had  sighed  and  waited, 
— the  glory  of  the  only- begotten,  the  express  image 
of  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and  truth.  His  name 
was  called  Immanuel,  God-with-Us;  and  so  express, 
so  complete,  so  conclusive  was  the  manifestation, 
above  all,  so  fitted  to  our  frame,  so  personal,  so 
human,  so  brotherly,  that  neither  heart  nor  intellect 
should  ask  for  more,  and  none  need  now  repeat  the 
behest  of  Philip,  "  Lord,  show  us  the  Father,  and  it 
sufficeth  us,"  for  he  that  seeth  Jesus  seeth  God. 

"Destroy  this  temple;"  it  was  no  longer  a  tent 
but  a  temple, — "  Destroy  it,"  said  Jesus,  alluding  to 
the  tent  or  temple  of  His  body,  "  and  in  three  days 
I  will  build  it  up  again."  Yes,  this  was  the  true 
tabernacle,  which  the  Lord  pitched,  and  not  man  ! 
the  body  that  was  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and 
about  to  be  crucified  by  Pontius  Pilate, — the  holy 
and  beautiful  house  in  which  the  Godhead  had 
dwelt  for  years,  and  in  whose  "moving  tent"  He 
had  perambulated  the  towns  and  villages  of  that 
Holy  Land,  giving  forth  oracles,  attracting  to  Him- 


THE  TABERNACLE.  291 

self  the  guilty,  the  sin-laden,  and  such  as  were  out 
of  the  way,  and  finishing  off  by  that  great  oblation 
in  which  the  Priest  Supreme  offered  up  the  Victim 
Divine, — in  which  the  series  ended  and  the  symbols 
were  fulfilled,  for  the  Son  of  God  had  offered  up 
Himself. 

That  temple  they  destroyed,  but  in  three  days 
the  Divine  inhabitant  had  built  it  up  again — this 
time  a  body  more  beautiful  than  ever,  indestruc- 
tible, immortal,  death-  defying,  a  norm  or  pattern  of 
that  glorious  body  which  the  Saviour  designs  to 
give  to  each  disciple.  And  there  is  in  the  thought 
something  truly  animating.  Of  the  true  tabernacle 
which  the  Lord  pitched,  and  not  man,  there  is  now 
a  restoration  unspeakably  glorious  and  absolutely 
indestructible.  Over  that  celestial  body  in  which 
Christ  hath  ascended  death  hath  no  dominion  ;  and 
in  due  season  each  ransomed  spirit  shall  be  the 
tenant  of  such  another  temple.  The  holy  and  beau- 
tiful house  on  the  heights  of  Zion  was  not  a  greater 
advance  on  the  tabernacle,  with  its  ropes  and  its 
poles  and  its  canvas,  than  will  be  the  improvement 
on  the  present  imperfect  and  disordered  materialism 
of  your  house  from  heaven.  It  will  be  a  glorious 
body,  one  which  pain  cannot  prostrate,  which  acci- 
dent cannot  damage,  which  advancing  years  cannot 
render  less  efficient,  and  one  which  has  for  ever 
done  with  dying.     It  will  be  a  body  exquisitely 


292  THE  TABERNACLE. 

organized,  where  the  mind  shall  have  no  volitions 
for  which  the  members  shall  not  find  the  instru- 
ment or  the  vehicle ;  where  the  heart,  the  under- 
standing shall  have  no  thoughts  nor  feelings  for 
which  the  lips,  the  eyes,  shall  not  find  language. 
And  although  looking  at  some  countenance,  vener- 
able or  lovely,  behind  whose  translucent  veil  some- 
thing of  Heaven's  glory  was  enshrined,  we  may 
have  felt  for  the  moment,  "  How  amiable  are  Thy 
tabernacles,  0  Lord  of  hosts  !"  could  we  draw 
nearer  and  listen  to  the  language  of  the  actual 
inmate,  we  should  sometimes  find  him  complaining 
of  straitened  space  and  inappropriate  accommoda- 
tion. "  For  we  that  are  in  this  tabernacle  do  groan, 
being  burdened ;  for  we  know  that  if  our  earthly 
house  of  this  tabernacle  were  dissolved,  we  have  a 
building   of  God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands, 

eternal  in  the   heavens 'Now  he   that   hath 

wrought  us  for  the  self-same  thing  is  God,  who  also 
hath  given  to  us  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit." 


XIX. 

"  I  beseech  tliee,  show  me  thy  glory."— Ex.  xxxiii.  18. 

When  the  funeral  of  Da  Costa  took  place  last 
month  at  Amsterdam,  when  the  church  was  filled 
with  mourners  and  the  grand  organ  had  played  a 
soft  and  muflded  tune,  the  music  grew  articulate 
and  the  assembly  melted  into  tears  as  they  sang, — 

"  Like  as  the  hart  for  water-brooks 
In  thirst  doth  pant  and  bray  ; 
So  pants  my  longing  soid,  0  God, 
That  come  to  thee  I  may. 

My  soul  for  God,  the  living  God, 

Doth  thirst :  when  shall  T  near 
Unto  thy  countenance  approach, 

And  in  God's  sight  appear?" 

They  felt  that  the  words  were  true.  They  were 
descriptive  of  the  brother  departed.  As  philosopher 
and  historian,  as  jurist  and  divine,  above  all  as  the 
sweet  singer  of  the  Netherlands,  his  had  been  a  life 
of  achievement ;  but  still  more  conspicuous  than  all 
achievement  was  a  certain  air  of  unrest — a  certain 
pressing  forward  and  looking  upward — in  one  word, 


294  THE  DIVINE  GLOEY. 

a  certain  aspect  of  continual  aspiration.  The  goal 
of  his  spirit  was  God.  It  was  neither  to  the  temple 
of  fame  nor  to  the  chair  of  science  that  his  ambition 
had  pointed ;  but  he  had  showed  plainly  that  the 
magnet  which  drew  him — which,  in  the  mean- 
while, made  him  touch  the  earth  so  lightly,  and 
which,  by  and  bye,  would  draw  the  very  soul  forth 
from  the  body, — he  showed  that  this  mighty  attrac- 
tion was  infinite  excellence.  And  now  he  had 
reached  it.  He  had  reached  the  livingr  God,  and 
was  drinking  from  that  river  of  pleasures  for  which 
he  had  all  his  life  been  panting,  and  tears  of  trium- 
phant sympathy  mingled  with  their  tenderness. 
And  no  doubt  it  deepened  the  feeling  to  remember 
that  the  same  funeral  hymn  had  sounded  over  the 
grave  of  a  still  mightier  minstrel,  Bilderdijk,  thirty 
years  before,  whose  life,  like  Da  Costa's,  had  been 
marked  by  high  genius  and  exalted  goodness,  but 
still  more  by  longings  after  a  greatness  and  good- 
ness which  earth  has  not  got  to  offer,  and  which  it 
is  needful  to  put  off  these  bodies  in  order  to  attain. 
AVhere  intellectual  elevation  and  deep  devotion 
exist  together  there  is  sure  to  be  somewhat  of  this 
feeling.  Moses  is  an  instance.  Through  eighteen 
lectures  we  have  traced  his  history  and  his  services 
— as  scholar,  warrior,  patriot,  as  leader  of  the 
Exodus,  as  mediator  between  the  people  and  their 
celestial  Monarch;  and  we  have  had  occasion  to 


THE  DIVINE  GLOKY.  295 

admire  liim  as  the  man  of  genius,  as  tlie  man  of 
culture,  and  above  all  as  the  man  of  God.  But 
nowhere  do  we  get  a  more  vivid  glimpse  into  the 
depths  of  his  being  than  just  in  the  words  of  our 
text,  and,  taken  in  connection  with  the  man  and 
with  all  the  attendant  circumstances,  they  teach  us 
many  a  lesson. 

1.  They  teach  us  that  it  is  GocTs  glory  which  an 
enhghtened  spirit  longs  to  see.  There  are  sights 
which  we  are  accustomed  to  speak  of  as  "  glorious  ; " 
and  of  these  Moses  had  seen  many.  He  had  seen 
Pharaoh  in  all  his  glory,  and  as  a  resident  in  the 
court  and  as  a  military  captain  he  had  seen  his 
own  share  of  martial  pomps  and  ovations.  He  had 
seen  glorious  landscapes — the  Xile  brimming  over 
with  bounty,  sunrise  from  behind  the  Pyramids,  and 
the  majestic  mountains  of  this  great  wilderness  ; 
and  the  ninetieth  Psalm  and  all  the  poems  in  the 
Pentateuch  show  how  alive  he  was  to  the  spectacles 
of  beauty.  But  the  glory  after  which  he  panted 
was  God's  own :  "  For  Thee,  0  God— O  living  God ! 
-T-for  Thee."  And  so,  my  friends,  it  is  well  if  you 
belong  to  that  little  company  who  inherit  the  earth, 
for  on  the  most  of  men  this  glorious  universe  is 
wasted.  At  sight  of  ocean,  earth,  or  sky  their  eye 
never  tingles,  their  bosom  never  heaves,  the  tear 
never  runs  over.  But  if  you  be  not  only  susceptible 
but  devout,  mingling  with  your  emotion,  and  often 


296  THE  DIVINE  GLORY. 

overmastering  it,  will  be  the  feeling  of  God's  own 
presence,  and  in  a  sense  not  pantheistic  but  truly 
scriptural  you  will  see  Him  ride  past  on  the 
wings  of  the  wind,  and  will  feel  His  rest-giving 
nearness  in  the  sabbath  of  the  silent  hills ;  the  eye 
that  never  closes  will  look  down  on  you  from 
amongst  the  twinkling  stars ;  suspended  a  solitary 
waif  in  the  centre  of  that  round-rimmed  sea, 
infinitude  above  and  mysterious  miles  below,  the 
everlasting  arm  will  enclasp  and  uphold  you ;  and 
like  the  Hebrew  priest  in  the  holy  place,  viewing  the 
brightness  which  emanated  from  within  the  Holy  of 
Holies,  as  from  under  the  edges  of  the  veiling  night 
an  opalescent  splendour  begins  to  issue  into  the 
eastern  sky,  you  will  welcome  the  coming  day  with 
something  like  the  prayer,  "  O  Thou  that  sittest 
between  the  cherubim,  shine  forth." 

And  yet,  although  there  is  far  more  truth  in  such 
feelings  than  in  their  absence — although  a  universe 
blank  and  silent,  with  no  God  living  and  moving 
in  it,  is  a  universe  with  the  glory  blotted  out, — the 
mind  which  sees  the  most  of  such  glory  will  long 
for  something  more,  and  even  amidst  the  sublimest 
scenes  of  nature  will  wistfully  repeat  the  prayer, 
"  I  beseech  Thee,  show  me  Thy  glory." 

2.  And  if  we  pass  to  revelations  more  articulate 
and  explicit,  we  shall  find  the  principle  still  obtain, 
and  he  who  has  seen  the  most  is  the  likeliest  to  ask 


THE  DIVINE  GLOKY.  297 

for  more.  In  this  respect  no  one  liacl  been  more 
favoured  than  Moses.  The  "  God  of  glory "  had 
appeared  to  him  at  the  bash,  and  had  spoken  to 
him  the  incommunicable  name.  He  had  seen  the 
glory  of  God  on  that  night,  so  much  to  be  remem- 
bered, when  Jehovah's  royal  ensign  fired  the  firma- 
ment, and  nnder  Heaven's  immediate  guidance  the 
glorious  march  began.  And  but  a  few  days  were  past 
since  this  Sinai  smoked,  and  whilst  the  glory  of  the 
Lord  like  devouring  fire  encircled  the  mountain-top, 
the  voice  of  the  Eternal  filled  the  surrounding  soli- 
tudes with  words  which  echo  still  and  shall  never  pass 
away.  But  all  this  did  not  suffice,  and  in  the  mind 
of  Moses  there  was  only  enkindled  a  longing  for  some 
manifestation  more  intimate  and  soul-contenting. 
Jehovah's  answ^er  shows  in  what  direction  the  heart 
of  Moses  pointed.  "  I  beseech  Thee,  show  me  Thy 
glory,"  says  Moses.  "  Yes,"  answers  Jehovah,  "I  will ; 
I  will  show  thee  my  goodness,  my  kindness,  and  my 
grace."  Of  majesty  and  grandeur  he  had  already 
seen  as  much  as  heart  could  wish,  as  much  as  the 
frail  body  could  endure.  The  personality,  the 
might,  the  holiness  of  the  Most  High  were  never 
likely  to  be  effaced  from  his  awe-struck  spirit  as 
long  as  he  had  any  being ;  but  still  amidst  all  its 
condescension,  what  w^onder  if  the  terrible  majesty 
still  left  an  impression  of  something  far-off  and 
formidable?     But  just  at  this  very  instant  in  the 


208  THE  DIVINE  GLORY. 

devouring  fire  had  opened  an  inlet  mild  and  merci- 
ful, and  Israel's  intercessor  glimpsed  a  glory  still 
interior — the  heart  of  Jehovah,  rich  in  forgiveness 
and  radiating  forth  its  ceaseless  loving-kindness. 
Not  only  had  He  pardoned  a  most  scandalous 
insult  to  His  supremacy,  and  in  answer  to  Moses' 
bold  entreaty  consented  still  to  abide  by  the  un- 
grateful people — "  ^ly  presence  shall  go  with  thee, 
and  I  will  give  thee  rest," — but  with  overflowing 
tenderness  He  had  spoken  most  friendly  words  to 
the  intercessor  himself,  "  I  will  do  as  thou  hast 
spoken,  for  thou  hast  found  grace  in  my  sight,  and 
I  know  thee  by  name,"  and  grasping  at  that 
gracious  word — pressing  up  into  the  exalted  in- 
timacy of  which  he  had  obtained  an  earnest  so 
encouraging,  Moses  replied,  "  I  beseech  Thee,  show 
me  Thy  glory."  "  Let  me  still  nearer.  Prolong  this 
blessed  moment,  and  admit  me  still  further  into 
Thy  presence." 

And  so  of  every  soul  di^dnely  enlightened,  or 
rather,  I  should  say,  of  every  soul  divinely  enkindled. 
God  is  its  chief  est  joy.  Whether  it  knows  it  or  not, 
God  has  come  to  be  its  supreme  felicity,  and  nothing 
can  make  it  profoundly  and  abidingly  glad  except 
the  sense  of  His  friendship  and  a  certain  nearness 
to  Himself  Nor  is  this  a  desire  which  a  single 
vouchsafement  can  appease,  or  which  can  live  con- 
tentedly on  even  the  most  marvellous  and  trans- 


THE  DIVINE  GLOEY.  299 

porting  memories.  "  0  God,  Thou  art  my  God  ; 
early  will  I  seek  Thee  :  my  soul  thirsteth  for  Thee, 
to  see  Thy  power  and  Thy  glory,  so  as  I  have  seen 
Thee  in  the  sanctuary."  And  the  believer  goes  back 
to  the  Bible,  he  hails  the  return  of  the  Sabbath,  he 
welcomes  another  Communion  as  a  possible  occasion 
of  new  insight  to  the  Divine  perfection,  and  as  a 
likely  means  for  enabling  him  to  realize  more  bliss- 
fully the  friendship  of  All-sufficiency.  "  One  thing 
liave  I  desired  of  the  Lord,  that  will  I  seek  after ; 
that  I  may  dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  all  the 
days  of  my  life,  to  behold  the  beauty  of  the  Lord, 
and  to  inquire  in  His  temple."  And  when  to  the 
entreaty,  "  I  beseech  Thee,  show  me  Thy  glory,"  is 
answered,  "  No  man  can  see  Me  and  live,"  faith  and 
affection  will  sometimes  venture  to  reply,  with  St. 
Augustine,  "Then  that  I  may  see  Thee,  Lord,  let 
me  die." 

The  prayer  of  Moses  was  answered.  Another 
morning  came,  so  different  from  that  other  and 
august  occasion  when  a  quaking  multitude  sur- 
rounded a  thundering  mount ;  this  time  there  was 
neither  blackness  nor  tempest  nor  sound  as  of  a 
trumpet,  but,  with  his  two  stone  tables  under  his 
arm,  the  lawgiver  ascended  in  the  clear  cool  day- 
spring.  He  ascended  and  sought  the  appointed 
place,  and  as  there  in  the  cleft  of  the  rock  he  waited, 
a  cloud  drew  nidi — a  cloud  like  that  which  floated 


300  THE  DIVINE  GLORY. 

above  the  tabernacle,  and  as  the  Lord  passed  by  a 
voice,  still  and  small  perhaps,  but  kind  and  clear, 
proclaimed — "  The  Lord,  The  Lord  God,  merciful  and 
gracious,  long-suffering,  and  abundant  in  goodness 
and  truth,  keeping  mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving 
iniquity,  and  transgression,  and  sin,  and  that  will  by 
no  means  clear  the  guilty."  It  was  enough.  The  Lord 
had  answered  the  prayer  of  His  servant,  and  had 
showed  to  Moses  His  glory,  the  glory  of  His  good- 
ness. Moses  bowed  his  head  and  worshipped,  and, 
during  the  protracted  interview  of  the  forty  follow- 
ing days,  a  perfect  love  cast  out  fear,  and  from  the 
pavilion  of  this  friendly  presence  and  its  rapt 
communion  Moses  came  down  with  that  shining 
face,  which  only  re-appeared  on  the  Mount  of  Trans- 
figuration. 

Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see 
God.  I  incline  to  think  that  piety  of  the  highest 
pitch,  piety  of  the  pattern  nearest  Heaven,  is  that 
which,  with  David,  pants  after  the  living  God, — is 
that  which,  with  Moses,  cries,  "  I  beseech  Thee,  show 
me  Thy  glory."  But  it  is  not  common  now.  It 
was  more  common  when  they  dwelt  in  dens  and  in 
dungeons,  in  caves  of  the  earth  and  in  clefts  of  the 
rock.  The  insulated  cloud  which  from  its  lonely 
bosom  could  launch  a  bolt  big  enough  to  rend  the 
mountain  or  make  the  welkin  ring  again,  if  touched 
at  every  point  by  its  trailing  neighbours,  if  stranded 


THE  DIVINE  GLORY.  301 

on  the  tree  tops  or  the  mountain  side,  soon  loses 
all  its  lightning,  drawn  off  in  inconspicuous  spark- 
lets, and  subsides  into  a  feeble  feathery  innocent,  a 
thin  pale  ghost  of  vapour.  And  so  from  isolated 
spirits,  from  those  who,  like  Elijah,  dwelt  apart,  or 
who,  like  Moses  and  David,  lived  alone  amidst  the 
multitude,  from  such  vast  self-contained,  secluded 
spirits,  men  with  whom  their  fellows  could  hold  no 
converse,  and  who  were  thus  shut  up  to  exclusive 
fellowship  with  the  Friend  ever  present  and  supreme ; 
from  such  concentrated  souls  great  bolts  of  prayer 
went  up,  or,  like  the  fire  of  heaven,  in  some  flashing 
word  the  long-gathered  thought  came  down.  But, 
and  let  us  not  be  too  severe  on  circumstances  not 
absolutely  evil,  in  days  of  much  amenity,  in  a  time 
like  this  when  Christian  companionship  is  no  rarity, 
and  when  countless  objects  of  beneficence  give  outlet 
to  those  better  feelings  which  in  severer  or  less  busy 
times  went  back  to  God  ;  in  such  a  time  devotional 
feeling  is  hardly  permitted  to  accumulate  sufficiently ; 
the  sacred  fire  is  drawn  off  in  driblets,  and  after  our 
friends  have  got  their  share,  and  our  neighbours 
theirs,  and  the  public  theirs,  alas !  there  is  little 
left,  and  instead  of  the  whole  soul  going  up  to  God 
in  some  heaven-rending  ejaculation,  it  is  all  that  our 
spent  and  diluted  piety  can  do  to  appreciate,  for  we 
can  hardly  venture  to  repeat,  the  behest,  "  I  beseech 
Thee,  show  me  Thy  glory." 


302  THE  DIVINE  GLORY. 

Yet  how  it  helps  us,  that  is  to  say,  how  it  at  once 
exalts  and  humbles  when  w^e  meet  with  genuine 
instances.  I  venture  on  a  specimen.  The  author  is 
hardly  known,  but  he  lived  in  the  same  parsonage 
once  tenanted  by  the  holy  Herbert,  and  beneath  the 
spire  of  Salisbury,  and  on  those  wide  Wiltshire 
plains  he  walked  with  God,  unnoticed  and  unknown. 
It  is  in  words  like  these  that  the  hidden  life  of 
JSTorris  of  Bemerton  wells  over :  "  My  God,  my 
happiness,  who  art  as  well  the  End  as  the  Author 
of  my  being ;  who  hast  more  perfection  than  I  have 
desire,  and  who  art  truly  willing  to  quench  my  great 
thirst  in  the  ocean  of  Thy  perfection ;  '  I  beseech 
Thee,  show  me  Thy  glory/  Withdraw  Thy  hand 
from  the  cleft  of  the  rock,  and  remove  the  bounds 
from  the  mount  of  Thy  presence,  that  I  may  see  Thee 
as  Thou  art,  face  to  face,  and  dwell  for  ever  in  the 
light  of  Thy  beauty.  I  have  long  dwelt  with  vanity 
and  emptiness,  and  have  made  myself  weary  in  the 
pursuit  of  rest.  0  let  me  be  taken  up  into  the  only 
Ark  of  repose  and  security,  and  let  me  see  enough 
of  Thyself  to  love  Thee  infinitely,  to  depend  on  Thee 
for  my  happiness  entirely,  and  to  bear  up  my  spirit 
under  the  greatest  aridities  and  dejections,  with  the 
delightful  prospect  of  Thy  glories.  0  let  me  sit 
down  under  this  Thy  shadow  with  great  delight,  till 
the  fruit  of  the  Tree  of  Life  shall  be  sweet  to  my 
taste.     Let  me  stay  and  entertain  my  longing  soul 


THE  DIVINE  GLO£Y.  303 

with  tlie  contemplation  of  Thy  beauty,  till  Thou  shalt 
bring  me  into  Thy  banqueting-house,  where  vision 
shall  be  the  support  of  my  spirit,  and  Thy  banner 
over  me  shall  be  love.  Grant  this,  0  my  God,  for 
the  sake  of  Thy  great  love,  and  of  the  Son  of  Thy 
love,  Christ  Jesus.  Amen."^  Words  like  these, 
who  does  not  perceive  that  they  are  wings  of  a 
dove,  and  that  the  soul  which  sincerely  can  utter 
them  is  being  w^afted  upon  them  by  God's  own 
Spirit  to  God's  own  heaven  ? 

But  who  again,  reverting  to  this  context,  can  fail 
to  see  that  God's  glory  is  His  goodness  ?  Amongst 
astronomers  it  is  a  favourite  speculation  that  the 
sun  himself  is  something  else  than  a  mere  ball  of 
fire,  and  that  inside  of  his  burning  atmosphere  there 
may  be  a  mighty  globe  with  cool  meadows,  with 
seas  of  glass,  and  rivers  clear  as  crystal,  and  with 
every  conceivable  provision  for  a  vast  and  rejoicing 
population,  the  possible  home  of  even  the  just  made 
perfect.  And  even  so,  when  forced  near  to  God  the 
guilty  conscience  feels  as  if  it  were  forced  forward 
towards  a  consuming  fire — towards  a  holiness  which 
hurts  its  love  of  sin, — towards  a  righteousness  rec- 
torial and  retributive,  which  on  all  its  evil  radiates 
condemnation.  And  it  is  right,  for  "  He  will  by  no 
means  clear  the  guilty."  But  within  this  light  inac- 
cessible, within  this  refulgent  atmosphere  of  truth 

1  Norris's  Essays,  etc.,  p.  226. 


304  THE  DIVINE  GLORY. 

and  sanctity,  is  a  glory  more  intimate  and  essential 
still,  the  inmost  perfection  and  divinest  beauty  of 
the  Godhead.  Coming  from  within  that  light  inac- 
cessible, the  only-begotten  Son  from  the  bosom  of 
the  Father  declared  what  was  there,  and  He  de- 
clared that  it  is  love, — a  love  which  had  sent  Him- 
self and  which  invited  up  into  its  blissful  asylum 
every  weary  and  sin-laden  spirit.  And  so  on  this 
occasion,  to  the  meek  and  wistful  Moses  preaching 
the  gospel,  Jehovah  expanded  that  one  word  of  love 
into  the  name,  "  The  Lord  God,  merciful  and  gracious, 
forgiving  iniquity,  transgression,  and  sin." 

And  those  who  know  that  name  will  put  their 
trust  in  God,  especially  now  when  the  saving  clause 
or  reservation  has  lost  its  ominous  look,  and  lost  it 
not  by  being  spirited  away,  but  by  being  signally 
fulfilled, — more  signally  fulfilled  than  if  all  the 
guilty  had  paid  each  and  individually  the  personal 
penalty.  And  now  that  the  Divine  Eepresentative 
has  submitted  to  take  your  place,  and  be  treated 
exactly  as  if  tlie  guilt  were  His,  not  yours, — and 
now  that,  in  virtue  of  ample  satisfaction  rendered, 
that  great  Substitute  is  cleared, — now  that  Christ 
offers  to  include  you  in  His  full  quittance,  you  may 
let  the  refracted  rays  return  and  unite  again, — you 
may  let  this  name  proclaimed  to  Moses  condense 
again  into  that  name  revealed  by  Jesus, — you  may 
surrender  to  the  joyful  assurance  that  God  is  love, 


THE  DIVINE  GLORY.  305 

that  in  Christ  He  is  your  Father  and  your  God. 
The  prayer  is  answered  not  to  Moses  only  but  to  all 
of  us,  on  whom  these  ends  of  the  earth  have  come. 
God  has  showed  His  glory.  Nay,  the  very  "  bright- 
ness of  that  glory  "  has  come  forth  and  dwelt  among 
us.  Bow  the  head  and  worship.  Adore  the  Incarnate 
Mystery,  and  as  you  continue  to  commune  with 
God  manifest,  your  face  will  begin  to  shine.  The 
gladness  in  your  heart  will  illuminate  your  counten- 
ance, and  both  from  reflected  beauty  and  inward 
assimilation  you  will  be  changed  into  the  same 
image,  glorious  as  first  it  dawns  and  more  glorious 
as  it  still  proceeds. 


XX. 


"  And  what  nation  is  there  so  great,  that  hath  statutes  and  judgments 
so  righteous  as  all  this  law,  which  I  set  before  you  this  day  ?" — 
Deut.  IV.  8. 

A  MODEEN  jurist,  a  rrenchman  and  an  infidel, 
observes,  "  Good  right  had  Moses  to  challenge  his 
Israelites,  And  what  nation  hath  statutes  like  yours  ? 
a  worshi]3  so  exalted,  laws  so  equitable,  a  code  so 
complete  ?  Compared  with  all  the  legislations  of 
antiquity,  none  so  thoroughly  embodies  the  prin- 
ciples of  everlasting  and  universal  righteousness. 
Lycurgus  WTote  not  for  a  people  but  for  an  army  : 
it  was  a  barrack  which  he  erected,  not  a  common- 
wealth ;  and  sacrificing  everything  to  the  military 
spirit,  he  mutilated  human  nature  in  order  to  crush 
it  into  armour.  Solon,  on  the  contrary,  could  not 
resist  the  effeminate  and  relaxing  influences  of  his 
Athens.  It  is  in  Moses  alone  that  we  find  a  regard 
for  the  right,  austere  and  incorruptible, — a  morality 
distinct  from  policy,  and  rising  above  regard  for 
times  and  peoples.     The  trumpet  of  Sinai  still  finds 

306 


THE  LAWGIVER.  307 

an  echo  in  the  conscience  of  mankind, — the  Deca- 
logue still  binds  us  all."  ^ 

Did  the  merit  belong  to  Moses,  in  the  annals  of 
legislation  his  would  be  the  proudest  of  names,  for 
never  before  nor  since  did  a  code  spring  into  such 
sudden  existence  or  conquer  such  tremendous  diffi- 
culties. As  it  is,  that  name  stands  out  in  serene 
and  saintly  pre-eminence,  as  the  meek  self-merging 
medium  through  which  Heaven  conveyed  to  earth 
the  choicest  of  mercies.  "  Behold,  I  have  taught  you 
statutes  and  jiidgments,  even  as  the  Lord  my  God 
commanded  me.  For  what  nation  is  there  so  great, 
who  hath  God  so  nigh  unto  them,  as  the  Lord  our 
God  is  in  all  things  that  we  call  upon  Him  for  ? 
And  what  nation  is  there  so  great,  that  hath  statutes 
and  judgments  so  righteous  as  all  this  law,  which  I 
set  before  you  this  day?" — Where  it  is  beautiful  to 
see  how  God  gets  all  the  glory,  and  Israel  all  the 
good ;  how,  on  the  one  hand,  mingling  himself  with 
the  mass  of  the  nation,  the  man  Moses,  so  very 
meek,  he  speaks  of  Jehovah  as  '' our  God," — their. 
God  as  much  as  his ;  and  how,  on  the  other  hand, 
he  tries  to  lift  their  hearts  from  the  midst  of  their 
mercies  to  that  God  who  gave  them  this  mercy 
surpassing,  statutes  and  judgments  so  righteous. 
Like  a  magnificent  Alp,  whose  green  skirts  are  the 
nest  of  a  nation,  and  whose  top  white  and  glisten- 

i  Legislation  Fran^aise,  par  Heunequin,  torn,  i.  609. 


308  THE  LAWGIVER. 

ing,  if  terrestrial  at  all,  is  something  transfigured, 
our  lawgiver  stands  up  in  the  horizon  of  history, 
not  proud  but  pre-eminent — a  halo  round  his  head, 
and  an  emancipated  people  at  his  feet — claiming  to 
himself  no  credit,  but  rejoicing  in  their  happiness, 
and  pointing  to  that  high  source  from  which  it  all 
comes  down. 

In  order  to  understand  the  Mosaic  legislation 
rightly,  we  must  remember  a  distinction.  The 
Israelites  were  to  be  a  peculiar  people.  They  ex- 
isted not  for  themselves,  but  they  had  a  function  to 
fulfil  towards  all  mankind,  and,  in  order  to  fulfil 
this  function,  it  was  needful  that  they  should  be  for 
a  time  a  people  separate  and  self-contained,  singular 
in  their  usages  and  sequestered  in  their  dwelling. 
In  order  to  fix  them  down  to  one  spot  they  had 
their  local  worship.  It  was  a  law  that  all  the  men 
amongst  them  should  rendezvous  at  the  central 
shrine  three  times  a  year,  and  thus  foreign  settle- 
ments or  distant  journeys  were  made  impossible. 
The  Hebrew  home  must  be  within  a  short  and  easy 
radius  round  the  Temple,  and  if  he  went  abroad  he 
carried  this  tether,  and  was  pulled  back  again  by 
the  Passover  or  some  other  pilgrimage.  Then  again 
to  keep  Israel  distinct  and  immiscible,  there  were 
imposed  upon  him  many  rules  and  restrictions.  If 
a  stranger  wished  to  settle  in  the  Holy  Land  he 
must  submit  to  circumcision ;  he  must  keep  the 


THE  LAWGIVER.  309 

Sabbath ;  he  must  not  bring  with  him,  on  pain  of 
death,  his  idols  or  his  own  religious  observances ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  if  a  Hebrew  wished  to  roam, 
if  on  business  or  pleasure  he  went  abroad,  he  must 
not  adopt  the  usages  of  the  people  round  him.  He 
must  not  adopt  their  garb ;  he  must  not  even  wear 
his  hair  as  they  wore  theirs  ;  above  all,  he  must  not 
join  them  in  their  feasts  or  share  their  usual  food, 
so  that  what  with  his  peculiar  garb  and  flowing 
beard,  with  his  horror  of  things  strangled,  and  with 
his  long  catalogue  of  unclean  beasts,  if  the  stranger 
found  the  Hebrew  in  the  Holy  Land  a  stiff  and 
unaccommodating  host,  the  Hebrew  on  his  travels 
made  himself  a  grotesque  and  inconvenient  guest. 
And  this  was  exactly  what  his  law  designed.  It  was 
intended  to  preserve  him  a  personage  peculiar  in  his 
own  self- consciousness,  and  conspicuous  in  the  eyes 
of  others — the  world's  prophet  and  its  priest  till 
once  his  function  was  fulfilled — till  that  Divine 
personage  had  arrived  who  was  "  the  end  of  the 
law,"  and,  emancipated  from  meats  and  drinks  and 
divers  washings,  men  like  Paul  and  Peter  merged 
the  Jew  in  the  Christian  and  the  Catholic,  and,  no 
longer  calling  anything  common  or  unclean,  found 
in  every  clime  a  country  and  in  every  saint  a  living 
temple. 

Whilst  some  laws  were  designed  on  purpose  to 
make  the  Jew  peculiar,  in  reading  others  we  must 


310  THE  LAWGIVER. 

bear  in  mind  how  imperfect  were  the  people  to 
whom  they  were  originally  addressed.  There  might 
have  been  better  laws,  as  we  are  apt  to  imagine, 
throwing  backward  our  New  Testament  light,  but 
they  were  the  best  that  the  people  could  bear.  A 
wise  lawgiver  has  regard  to  the  powers  and  to  the 
prejudices  of  the  people  for  whom  he  is  legislating, 
and  will  not  lay  on  them  burdens  greater  than  they 
have  strength  to  carry.  He  will  take  into  account 
their  climate,  their  prevailing  pursuits  and  callings, 
their  previous  training,  the  present  state  of  rehgion 
and  morals,  and  whilst  it  will  be  his  object  to  help 
them  up  to  a  higher  level,  he  will  not  make  the 
steps  of  the  ascent  so  cyclopean  that  none  but  giants 
can  climb.  Thus  the  law  of  Moses  allowed  certain 
forms  of  slavery,  and  it  forbade  the  taking  interest 
for  money.  It  allowed  a  man,  in  certain  cases,  to 
have  more  wives  than  one,  and  it  gave  facilities  for 
divorcement,  which,  in  the  words  of  the  Saviour, 
showed  great  "  hardness  of  heart," — a  bluntness  of 
feeling  and  coarseness  of  sentiment  such  as  could 
not  have  been  "  in  the  beginning,"  and  such  as  can- 
not well  exist  under  the  refining  influence  of  the 
gospel. 

At  the  same  time,  there  are  in  this  Mosaic  code 
many  traits  and  touches  which  anticipate  the  higher 
tone  and  tenderness  of  a  later  dispensation.  "If 
thou  meet  thine  enemy's  ox  or  his  ass  going  astray, 


THE  LAWGIVER.  311 

thou  shall  surely  bring  it  back  to  him  again.  If 
thou  see  the  ass  of  him  that  hateth  thee  lying  under 
his  burden,  and  wouldest  forbear  to  help  him;  thou 
shalt  surely  help  with  him."^  What  could  be  more 
disarming,  what  more  likely  to  electrify  an  enemy 
into  sudden  subjugation  !  what  finer  conquest  over 
one's -self,  for  the  first  impulse  is  to  glory  over  the 
perplexity  of  an  opponent ;  but  although  revenge 
would  fain  "forbear  to  help,"  religion  says,  Thou 
shalt  surely  succour.  "Eise  up  before  the  hoary 
head."^  A  ruffian  race,  mere  warriors  and  free- 
booters, despise  and  dislike  the  old,  for  they  can 
fight  no  longer ;  but  it  needs  some  sentiment  and 
some  homage  to  worth  and  wisdom  to  recognise  in 
the  hoary  head  a  crown  of  glory.  Then  again,  how 
many  of  these  laws  are  marked  by  a  considerate 
humanity !  "  If  thou  at  all  take  thy  neighbour's 
raiment  to  pledge,  thou  shalt  deliver  it  unto  him  by 
that  tlie  sun  goeth  down.  It  is  his  only  covering ; 
wherein  shall  he  sleep  ? "  ^  "  And  when  ye  reap  the 
harvest  of  your  land,  thou  shalt  not  wholly  reap  the 
corners  of  thy  field,  neither  shalt  thou  gather  the 
gleanings  of  thy  harvest.  Neither  shalt  thou  glean 
every  grape  of  thy  vineyard  :  thou  shalt  leave  them 
for  the  poor  and  stranger  :  I  am  the  Lord."*  And 
the  same  kindness  which  thinks  of  the  poor  and 

1  Ex.  xxiii.  4,  5.  «  Ex.  xxii.  26. 

2  Lev.  xix.  32.  *  Lev.  xix.  9,  10. 


312  THE  LAWGIVER. 

provides  for  thera  from  the  superabundance  of  the 
rich,  extends  its  regards  to  the  lower  forms  of  life. 
"  Thou  shalt  not  muzzle  the  mouth  of  the  ox  that 
treadeth  out  the  corn."  "  If  a  bird's  nest  chance  to 
be  before  thee  in  the  way,  in  any  tree  or  on  the 
ground,  and  the  dam  sitting  upon  the  eggs  or  upon 
the  young,  thou  shalt  not  take  the  mother-bird 
with  the  young  :  thou  shalt  in  any  wise  let  the 
dam  go  free,  and  take  the  young  to  thee."^ 

On  the  laws  of  Moses  we  shall  not  enter  further ; 
but  they  will  repay  the  study  of  those  who  have 
taste  and  leisure  for  such  investigations.  They  will 
repay  the  historian,  for  they  will  introduce  him  to 
a  civilisation  compared  with  which  the  Grecian 
culture  and  the  Eoman  commonwealth  are  but  of 
yesterday.  They  will  repay  the  scholar,  for  in 
Moses,  with  his  monotheism, — in  Moses,  with  his 
sublime  cosmogony, — in  Moses,  with  his  laws  so 
protective  to  the  poor  and  so  equitable  towards 
every  citizen,  he  will  find  some  of  the  sublimest 
things  in  Plato's  philosophy,  and  some  of  the  wisest, 
human  est  things  in  Plato's  imaginary  Eepublic. 
They  will  repay  the  jurist,  for  in  the  deodands  and 
compensations,  the  doctrine  of  trespass  and  damage 
and  malice  prepense  laid  down  by  the  Hebrew 
lawgiver,  he  will  find  the  origin  or  earnest  of  much 
iin  our  own  British   statute-book.      And  they  will 

*  Deut,  xxii.  6.       ; 


THE  LAWGIVER.  313 

repay  every  student  of  morals  and  of  mankind,  for, 
as  has  been  truly  remarked,  "  Thoughts  colonize  as 
well  as  races.  Ideas,  like  families,  have  a  genealogy 
and  a  propagation  ;"^  and  in  tracing  the  migrations 
of  thought  from  land  to  land,  in  following  up  these 
spiritual  migrations,  there  is  many  a  great  idea  of 
which  we  do  not  find  the  birthplace  till  we  reach 
the  Books  of  Moses,  many  a  notion  which  has 
widely  influenced  mankind,  and  which  is  still 
wielding  over  the  world  a  powerful  sway,  of  which 
w^e  shall  not  find  the  germ  or  principle  till  we  reach 
this  cradle  of  all  codes, — this  book  of  all  beginnings. 

1  Wines'  Commentaries,  p.  103. 


XXL 

^h^  Mati^r  of  iHi^ribah. 

"  Then  came  the  children  of  Israel,  even  the  whole  congregation,  into 
the  desert  of  Zin  in  the  first  month  :  and  the  people  abode  in 
Kadesh  ;  and  Miriam  died  there,  and  was  buried  there,"  etc. — 
Numb.  xx.  1-12. 

For  the  first  two  years  after  leaving  Egypt  the 
career  of  Israel,  and  consequently  of  Moses,  was  full 
of  incidents.  The  Eed  Sea  was  crossed,  Sinai  was 
reached,  the  Law  was  given,  the  Tabernacle  was  set 
up,  and  that  economy  was  established  by  which  for 
the  next  three  thousand  years  a  peculiar  people 
was  destined  to  be  known  and  distinsruished.  And 
there  was  at  one  time  every  appearance  as  if,  before 
the  second  year  had  expired,  the  favoured  and 
Heaven-protected  nation  would  be  comfortably 
settled  in  their  promised  land.  They  were  already 
near  it,  so  near  that  a  few  days  more  might  have 
carried  them  into  the  midst  of  it,  had  they  not  been 
arrested  by  their  own  incapacity  and  unworthiness. 
A  deputation  of  their  number  had  been  sent  to 
explore   the   country.     They    came    back   with    a 

314 


THE  WATER  OF  MERIBAH.  315 

glowing  account  of  its  climate  and  its  produce,  "it 
flowed  with  milk  and  honey,  and  here  is  a  cluster  of 
its  grapes  ;"  but  like  the  golden  apples  guarded  by 
the  dragon,  it  was  a  treasure  which  could  not  be 
touched  ;  the  people  were  such  giants  and  their 
garrisons  so  impregnable  that  it  was  mere  madness 
to  attempt  an  invasion.  It  was  to  no  purpose  that 
Joshua  and  Caleb  protested.  They  did  not  deny 
that  the  Canaanites  were  tall,  and  their  castles 
strong ;  but  "  the  Lord  is  ^Yith.  us,"  and  "  if  He 
delight  in  us,  it  is  an  exceeding  good  land,  and  He 
will  give  it  us."  The  contagion  of  dismay  had 
overspread  the  multitude ;  a  cry  was  raised  to 
choose  a  new  commander,  and  hasten  back  to 
Egypt ;  and  Joshua  and  Caleb  were  warned  that 
it  was  as  much  as  their  lives  were  worth  if  they 
spoke  another  word. 

It  was  a  sad  outburst  of  cowardice  and  childish- 
ness— a  whole  army  blubbering  at  the  prospect  of  a 
battle :  "  All  the  congregation  lifted  up  their  voice 
and  cried ;  and  the  people  wept  that  night."  To 
men  of  mettle  like  Joshua,  to  men  of  sense  and 
spirit,  it  was  mortifying  to  hear  them  like  babies, 
crying,  "Take  us  back  to  Egypt,"  forgetful  of  all 
the  horrors  of  the  house  of  bondage.  And  to  men 
of  God,  like  Aaron  and  his  brother,  it  was  stiU 
more  distressing  to  see  how,  at  each  new  danger, 
they  lost  all  memory  of  past  deliverance,  and  could 


316  THE  WATER  OF  MERIBAH. 

only  believe  in  God  for  the  moment  when  His  arm 
of  might  was  actually  made  manifest.  Altogether, 
it  was  a  discouraging  revelation,  and  it  seemed  to 
indicate  that  an  abject,  servile  spirit  on  the  one 
hand,  and  a  great  perversity  on  the  other,  were  too 
deeply  engrained  to  be  ever  pounded  out,  seeing 
that  they  had  survived  thirty- eight  years  of  dis- 
cipline and  training  in  the  heart  of  that  desert,  and 
seeing  that  on  the  very  first  trial  the  new  race 
broke  down  in  the  same  way  with  their  fathers  ; 
and  in  view  of  all  the  provocation,  we  who  are  but 
flesh  and  blood  are  apt  to  say  that  Moses  did  well 
to  be  angry. 

Angry  he  certainly  was  ;  and  when,  reverting  to 
a  former  miracle,  the  Most  High  directed  him  to 
take  the  wonder-staff — his  rod  of  many  miracles — 
and  at  the  head  of  the  congregation  "  speak  to  the 
rock,"  and  it  w^ould  "give  forth  its  w^ater,"  in  the 
heat  and  agitation  of  his  spirit  he  failed  to  imple- 
ment implicitly  the  Divine  command.  Instead  of 
speaking  to  the  rock  he  spoke  to  the  people,  and 
his  harangue  was  no  longer  in  the  language  calm 
and  dignified  of  the  lawgiver,  but  had  a  certain  tone 
of  petulance  and  egotism  :  "  Here  now,  ye  rebels  ; 
must  we" — must  I  and  Aaron,  not  must  Jehovah 
— "  fetch  you  water  out  of  this  rock  ?"  And  instead 
of  simply  speaking  to  it,  he  raised  the  rod  and  dealt 
it  two  successive  strokes,  just  as  if  the  rock  were 


THE  WATER  OF  MERIBAH.  317 

sharing  the  general  perversity,  and  would  no  more 
tlian  the  people  obey  its  Creator's  bidding.  He  was 
angry  and  he  sinned.  He  sinned  and  was  severely 
punished.  Water  flowed  sufficient  for  the  whole 
camp  and  the  cattle,  clear,  cool,  and  eagerly  gush- 
ing, enough  for  all  the  million;  but  at  the  same 
moment  that  its  unmerited  bounty  burst  on  you,  ye 
rebels,  "  a  cup  of  wrath  was  put  into  the  hand  of 
Moses." -^  To  you,  ye  murmurers,  there  came  forth 
living  water ;  to  your  venerable  leaders  the  cup  of 
God's  anger.  "  The  Lord  spake  unto  Moses  and 
unto  Aaron,  Because  ye  believed  me  not,  to  sanctify 
me  in  the  eyes  of  the  children  of  Israel,  therefore 
ye  shall  not  bring  this  congregation  into  the  land 
which  I  have  given  them." 

How  severe  the  sentence  !  and  how  inclined  we 
are  to  sympathize  with  those  good  and  much-endur- 
ing men  who,  at  the  very  end  of  their  task,  and  on 
the  very  edge  of  the  Promised  Land,  saw  vanish 
from  their  grasp  the  blessing  which  they  had  never 
once  forfeited  all  these  forty  years  !  But  the  Judge 
of  all  the  earth  must  do  right,  and  we  cannot  help 
inquiring,  "  What  was  the  precise  offence  which  was 
so  instantly  and  inexorably  punished  ?" 

The  usual  answer  and  the  most  obvious  is, 
that  Moses  lost  his  temper.  And  the  fact  cannot 
be    controverted.       As    we    read    in    Psalm    cvi., 

1  Van  Oosterzee,  p.  213. 


318  THE  WATER  OF  MERIBAH. 

"  They  provoked  tlie  spirit  of  Moses,  so  that  he 
spake  unadvisedly  with  his  lips."  And  on  the  face 
of  the  narrative  we  see  abundant  signs  of  wrath  and 
perturbation.  But  was  Moses  the  only  person  then 
present  whose  frame  of  mind  was  not  what  it  ought 
to  be  ?  Was  not  the  whole  multitude  in  a  buzz  of 
hot  and  angry  murmuring  ?  Had  they  not  passed 
the  night  in  petulant  complaints  and  infantile 
lamentations  ?  and,  the  day  before,  had  they  not 
threatened  to  stone  Caleb  with  stones?  We  fear 
that  there  were  few  good  tempers  that  morning ; 
and  if  every  man  had  borne  his  own  iniquity,  we 
fear  that  few  of  that  company  would  have  gone 
forward  from  Meribah,  or  even  survived  to  drink 
its  living  water.  What  was  it  then  ?  Alongj  with 
his  temper  what  else  had  Moses  lost  ?  or  what  was 
there  in  an  act  outwardly  so  trivial  which  made  it 
"  a  great  transgression"? 

In  order  to  arrive  at  a  reply  we  must  revert  to 
the  words  of  Jehovah :  "  The  Lord  spake  unto 
Moses  and  Aaron,  Because  ye  helieved  me  not,  to 
sanctify  me  in  the  eyes  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
therefore,"  etc.  Here  there  is  nothing  expressly 
directed  against  their  temper  or  spirit ;  but  they  are 
charged  with  unbelief.  If  their  temper  had  failed, 
the  saddest  effect  was  that  their  faith  had  also 
failed ;  and,  allowing  their  mind  to  be  thrown  off 
the  balance,  their  faith  shared  the  general  unhinge- 


THE  WATER  OF  MERIBAH.  3 1  i) 

ment.     In  the  dust  and  smoke  of  combat,  men  nob 
only  get  dim  and  distorted  views  of  their  fellows, 
but  the  serene  sky  overhead  grows  darkened ;  and 
this  unexpected  outbreak  of  the  Israelites,  whilst  it 
took  Moses  and  Aaron  by  surprise,  for  the  instant 
went  far  to  make  even  these  good  men  faithless  or 
forgetful.      "  Has  Jehovah's  purpose  been  defeated  ? 
Has  all  this  weariful  detention  failed  of  its  design 
in  weeding  out  the  murmurers  and  preparing  the 
people  for  the  promised  rest  ?     And  owing  to  this 
miserable  outbreak  must  Aaron  and  I  make  up  our 
minds  to  forty  more  years  in  the  desert  ?"     And 
just  as  happened  with  Jonah,  who  let  out  his  spite 
upon  the  gourd,  but  wlio  was  really  angry  with 
Nineveh  for  repenting,  and   angry   with   God   for 
sparing  it ;  and  just  as  happens  with  most  people 
when  they  get  into  a  passion,  Moses  wreaked  his 
anger  on  the  people  and  on  the  rock,  but  he  was 
not  altogether  pleased  with  God  Himself.     For  once 
he  disobeyed  his  ^Master's   orders,   and  instead  of 
doing  exactly  as  the  Lord  commanded,  he  did  what  he 
thought  should  do  as  well,  and  instead  of  the  simple 
and  sublime  instructions  he  had  received,  he  sub- 
stituted an  unwarranted  and  undignified  procedure 
of  his  own.     For  the  moment  he  himself  was  un- 
mindful of  the  Eock  of  his  salvation,  and  from  not 
believing  made  too  much  haste. 

To  use  the  words  of  one  who  thought  profoundly 


320  THE  WATER  OF  MERIBAH. 

and  whose  every  word  was  weighty, — Dr.  Eobert 
Gordon, — "  Perhaps  Moses  and  Aaron  doubted 
whether  it  were  enough  simply  to  speak  to  the 
rock,  and  whether  it  would  not  be  necessary  not 
only  to  smite  it,  as  on  a  former  occasion  Moses  had 
been  instructed  to  do,  but  to  smite  it  twice.  If  so, 
then  it  was  a  distrust  of  God's  power — a  doubt 
whether  the  rock  would  give  forth  water  at  the 
Divine  bidding  unaccompanied  with  the  smiting  of 
Moses,  which  formed  no  part  of  his  present  com- 
mission. If  so,  the  rebuke  which  followed  is  full 
of  instruction  to  all  subsequent  times.  That  rock 
was  one  of  the  most  significant  types  of  Christ  with 
which  the  Old  Testament  church  was  supplied. 
As  that  rock  was  once  smitten  with  the  rod  of 
Moses,  Israel's  lawgiver,  so  it  behoved  Christ  the 
antitype  to  be  smitten  once,  but  only  once,  with  the 
rod  of  the  great  Lawgiver,  that  He  might  vindicate 
the  law  and  make  it  honourable.  When  Moses 
therefore  smote  the  rock  again,  and  twice  too,  not 
only  without  authority,  but  in  opposition  to  the 
Divine  command, — for  he  was  commanded  to  speak 
to  it, — he  marred  the  beauty  of  that  type  whereby 
the  perfection  of  Christ's  one  sacrifice  was  so  clearly 
set  forth;  and  the  rebuke  which  he  and  Aaron 
incurred  does  most  emphatically  condemn  the  pre- 
sumption of  those  who  would  add  to  Christ's  one 
offering  of  Himself,  either  by  works  of  self-right- 


THE  WATER  OF  MERIBAH.  321 

eousness,  or  by  the  frequent  offering  of  what  they 
call  His  body  and  blood  in  the  idolatrous  sacrifice 
of  the  mass.  The  divine  influence  which  Christ  by 
His  Spirit  imparts  to  His  Church  may,  for  the 
chastisement  of  the  Church,  appear  for  a  season  to 
be  dried  up,  as  the  rock  in  the  wilderness  did  for  a 
time  withhold  its  water  from  the  thirsty  Israelites. 
But  in  order  to  give  forth  to  His  people  the  water 
of  life  Christ  needs  not  to  be  smitten  again  either 
in  reality  or  in  figure.  He  has  only  to  be  '  spoken 
to '  in  the  prayer  of  faith,  founded  on  the  warrant 
of  God's  Word;  and  whether  such  prayer  proceed 
from  the  individual  believer  in  his  humble  cottage, 
or  from  a  united  Church  in  her  collective  capacity, 
it  will  not  fail  to  draw  down  those  communications 
of  His  grace,  even  the  quickening  influences  of  His 
Spirit,  whereby  He  refreshes  His  inheritance  when 
it  is  weary."  ^ 

May  we  not  go  a  little  further?  What  was 
Moses,  what  was  Aaron  ?  You  reply.  The  one  was 
the  prince  and  prophet,  the  leader  and  lawgiver  of 
Israel ;  the  other  was  Israel's  priest.  True ;  but  on 
whose  behalf — by  whom  appointed,  whom  repre- 
senting ?  You  answer,  God.  That  is  to  say,  each 
was  in  a  certain  sense  a  mediator.  Each  stood  there 
so  far  representing  God  and  communicating  with 
Him  and  with  Israel — the  one  mainly  as  prophet  or 

1  Gordon's  Christ  in  the  Old  Testament,  vol.  ii.  pp.  95,  96. 
X 


322  THE  WATER  OF  MEEIBAH. 

revealer  of  His  mind, — the  other  mainly  as  priest 
or  reconciler  for  the  sins  of  the  people.  For  such  a 
function  the  first  essential  was  unison  with  God ; 
the  next,  and  hardly  the  next,  for  included  in  the 
former,  compassion  on  the  ignorant  and  wayward. 
In  a  dispensation  itself  mainly  gracious,  and  fore- 
shadowing one  which  would  be  grace  altogether,  it 
was  of  prime  importance  that  the  mediating  men 
should  be  men  merciful  and  gracious,  long-suffering 
and  slow  to  anger.  And  such  they  were  in  marvel- 
lous measure.  The  man  Moses  was  exceeding 
meek,  and  if  for  patience  and  a  sweet  submissive- 
ness  the  palm  had  been  assigned  to  any  one  besides, 
it  would  have  been  to  Aaron  his  brother.  But  after 
all  they  were  human.  Their  endurance  was  wonder- 
ful, but  it  was  not  inexhaustible ;  and  on  this 
occasion,  instead  of  hastening  in  betwixt  an  in- 
fatuated people  and  the  God  against  whom  they 
murmured,  and  crying,  "  Pardon  the  iniquity  of  this 
people,  according  to  the  greatness  of  Thy  mercy," 
when  it  turned  out  that  God  had  this  time  pardoned 
already,  and  was  about  to  give  them  good  for  their 
evil, — instead  of  faithfully  exhibiting  the  Divine 
munificence  and  calmly  asking  the  rock  for  its 
water,  they  (so  to  speak)  defeated  the  Divine  gener- 
osity, and  failing  to  sympathize  with  God's  forgiv- 
ingness,  He  was  not  "  sanctified  in  the  eyes  of  the 
children  of  Israel."     The  final  start  for  Canaan  was 


THE  WATER  OF  MERIBAH.  323 

marked,  like  every  previous  stage,  by  murmurs  ; 
but  remembering  that  tbey  were  but  flesh,  the  Lord 
vrould  not  deal  with  them  after  their  sins,  nor 
reward  them  according  to  their  iniquities.  No  fire 
came  forth,  no  chasm  opened ;  but  "  all  was  mercy, 
all  was  mild,"  and,  condoning  their  complaints,  the 
gift  they  needed  was  about  to  be  conferred  on  the 
rebellious.  But  to  this  effort  of  long-suffering  and 
loving-kindness  the  chafed  spirit  of  Moses  and 
Aaron  was  unequal.  By  the  way  they  managed  it 
they  spoiled  the  moral  glory  of  the  miracle,  and 
wbat  on  God's  side  was  a  gift  of  pure  grace,  under 
their  hard  blows  and  hot  words  assumed  the  aspect 
of  an  angry  gospel.  They  believed  Him  not,  to 
sanctify  Him  in  the  eyes  of  the  children  of  Israel. 

Brimming  over  with  instruction  as  is  this  passage, 
we  must  leave  it  with  a  few  remarks. 

1.  How  careful  preachers  of  the  gospel  and  ex- 
pounders of  Scripture  should  be  not  to  give  an 
erroneous  impression  of  God's  mind  or  message. 
The  mental  acumen  is  rare,  but  the  right  spirit  is 
rarer.  But  what  is  the  right  spirit  ? — A  loving 
spirit,  a  gentle  spirit,  a  faithful  spirit,  a  meek  and 
weaned  spirit,  a  spirit  which  says,  "  Speak,  Lord,  for 
Thy  servant  heareth,"  and  a  spirit  which  adds,  "  All 
that  the  Lord  giveth  me,  that  will  I  speak,"  that 
excellent  spirit  which  is  only  imparted  by  the  good 
Spirit  of  God.     For  if  He  withdraw,  even  a  Moses 


324  THE  WATER  OF  MERIBAH. 

ceases  to  be  meek,  and  ceasing  to  be  meek  even 
a  Moses  becomes  a  bad  divine  and  an  erroneous 
teacher,  striking  the  rock  that  has  been  already 
stricken  once  for  all,  and  preaching  glad  tidings 
gruffly.  He  who  gives  the  living  water  does  not 
grudge  it ;  but  sometimes,  instead  of  "  Ho !  every  one 
that  thirsteth,"  the  preacher  says,  "  Hear  now,  ye 
rebels  ;  must  we  fetch  you  water  out  of  this  rock  ? " 
and  makes  the  very  invitation  repulsive. 

2.  When  any  one  has  run  long  and  run  well,  how 
sad  it  is  to  stumble  within  a  few  steps  of  the  goal  1 
If  Moses  had  an  earthly  wish,  it  was  to  see  Israel 
safe  in  their  inheritance.  And  his  wish  was  all  but 
consummated.  Faith  and  patience  had  held  out 
well-nigh  forty  years,  and  in  a  few  months  more  the 
Jordan  would  be  crossed  and  the  work  would  be 
finished.  And  who  can  tell  but  this  very  nearness 
of  the  prize  helped  to  create  something  of  a  pre- 
sumptuous confidence  ?  The  blood  of  Moses  was  hot 
to  begin  with,  and  he  was  not  the  meekest  of  men 
when  he  smote  the  Egyptian  and  hid  him  in  the 
sand.  But  he  had  got  a  good  lesson  in  ruling  his 
spirit,  and  betwixt  the  long  sojourn  with  Jethro  and 
the  self-discipline  needful  in  the  charge  of  this 
multitude,  he  might  fancy  that  he  had  now  his  foot 
on  the  neck  of  this  enemy  :  when  lo !  the  sin  re- 
vives and  Moses  dies. 

Blessed  is  the  man  that  feareth  alway  !     Blessed 


THE  WATER  OF  MERIBAH.  325 

is  the  man  who,  although  years  have  passed  without 
an  attempt  at  burglary,  still  bars  his  doors  and  sees 
his  windows  fastened!  Blessed  is  the  man  who, 
although  a  generation  has  gone  since  the  last  erup- 
tion, forbears  to  build  on  the  volcanic  soil,  and 
dreads  fires  which  have  smouldered  for  fourscore 
years !  Blessed  is  the  man  who,  even  when  the 
high  seas  are  crossed  and  the  land  is  made,  still 
keeps  an  outlook !  Blessed  is  the  man  who,  even 
on  the  confines  of  Canaan,  takes  heed  of  the  evil 
heart,  lest,  with  a  promise  of  entering  in,  he  should 
come  short  through  unbelief ! 

3.  Elevation  of  mind  and  sweetness  of  spirit  are 
pearls  of  great  price,  and  if  we  wish  to  preserve 
them  we  had  better  intrust  them  to  God's  own 
keeping.  If  Moses  lost  his  faith,  it  was  by  first 
losing  self-command ;  and  if  a  man  lose  this,  it  is 
hard  to  say  what  next  he  may  lose :  like  the  mad 
warrior  who  makes  a  missile  of  his  shield  and  hurls 
it  at  the  head  of  an  enemy,  he  is  henceforward  open 
to  every  fiery  dart,  to  the  cut  and  thrust  of  every 
assailant.  But,  as  John  Newton  remarks,  "  the 
grace  of  God  is  as  necessary  to  create  a  right  temper 
in  a  Christian  on  the  breaking  of  a  china  plate  as  on 
the  death  of  an  only  son  ; "  and  as  no  man  can  tell 
on  any  dawning  day  but  what  that  may  be  the  most 
trying  day  in  all  his  life,  how  wise  to  pray  without 
ceasing,   "  Uphold   me   according   unto   Thy  word. 


526  THE  WATEK  OF  MERIBAH. 

Hold  Thou  me  up,  and  I  shall  be  safe."  "  Set  a 
watch,  0  Lord,  before  my  mouth  :  keep  the  door  of 
my  lips."  "  Who  can  understand  his  errors  ?  cleanse 
Thou  me  from  secret  faults.  Keep  back  Thy  ser- 
vant also  from  presumptuous  sins ;  let  them  not  have 
dominion  over  me  :  then  shall  I  be  upright,  and  I 
shall  be  innocent  from  the  great  transgression." 


XXIT. 

*'  For  from  tlie  top  of  tlie  rocks  I  see  Mm,  and  from  the  hills  I  behold 
him  :  lo,  the  people  shall  dwell  alone,  and  shall  not  be  reckoned 
among  the  nations." — Numb,  xxiii,  9. 

As  long  as  its  channel  is  rock  there  is  no  fear  for 
the  river.  There  is  no  risk  that  its  volume  will 
lessen,  or  that  it  will  fail  to  reach  its  terminus, 
although  the  ocean  should  be  a  thousand  miles  dis- 
tant. But  if  in  its  progress  it  is  met  by  a  sandy 
desert,  what  is  it  to  do  ?  This  Sahara  will  engulf 
it,  and  although  it  were  another  Nile,  this  sultry 
monster  is  able  to  devour  it  every  drop,  and  cheat 
the  thirsty  regions  beyond. 

The  first  ages  of  the  world  had  no  lack  of  revela- 
tion. For  a  thousand  years  they  retained  Adam, 
rich  in  the  recollections  of  Paradise,  and  from  time 
to  time  men  rose  up  like  Enoch  the  prophet  and 
Noah  the  preacher  of  righteousness — men  who  re- 
vived forgotten  truth  or  faded  piety,  and  who  added 
new  elements  to  the  pre-existing  knowledge;  and 

327 


328  THE  HEKMIT  NATION. 

from  all  the  probabilities  of  the  case,  we  do  not 
doubt  that  not  only  was  there  communion  with  God 
and  with  one  another  among  the  members  of  the 
little  church  which  survived  in  the  ark,  but  there  is 
every  evidence  that  it  was  a  pure  and  ample  creed 
which  emerged  from  that  floating  tabernacle — a 
creed  which  recognised  the  unity,  the  spirituality, 
the  truth  and  holiness  of  God  ;  which  kept  sacred 
one  day  in  seven ;  which  looked  for  a  seed  of  the 
woman  who  should  be  deliverer  and  restorer  of 
humanity  ;  and  which  retained  the  practice  and  the 
doctrine  of  sacrifice. 

In  all  likelihood  Noah's  creed  was  much  more 
minute  and  comprehensive  than  this,  but  it  is  a 
great  matter  to  know  that  all  this  was  included. 
It  is  a  great  matter  to  know  that  four  thousand 
years  ago  there  was  a  church  catholic — a  church 
within  which  there  were  no  schismatics,  as  there 
were  no  separatists  without — a  church  unanimous 
in  worshipping,  without  any  idolatrous  intermedium, 
the  King  eternal,  immortal,  and  invisible — a  church 
which  lived  in  the  hope  of  redemption — a  church 
which  kept  holy  the  Sabbath,  and  which  solemnized 
its  signal  deliverance  and  sanctified  its  new  abode 
by  that  great  holocaust  of  Ararat. 

But  it  is  sad  to  see  how  soon  this  primeval  and 
catholic  creed  got  corrupted.  Men  did  not  lose  it 
entirely,  but  they  so  depraved  and  distorted  it  that 


THE  HERMIT  NATION.  329 

its  features  coiild  scarcely  be  identified.  Instead 
of  worshipping  the  unseen  all-seeing  Creator,  they 
chose  His  brightest  creature,  and,  like  the  ancient 
Persians,  became  worshippers  of  the  fire  or  the  sun  ; 
or  they  put  together  rude  emblems  of  wisdom,  swift- 
ness, and  strength, — the  head  of  a  man,  the  wings  of 
an  eagle,  the  legs  of  an  ox  or  a  lion,  and,  like  the 
old  Assyrians,  at  last  bowed  down  and  worshipped 
their  carved  or  molten  symbol.  The  Sabbath  faintly 
survived  in  the  traditions  of  all  lands,  and  the 
coming  Eedeemer  was  travestied  in  the  incarnations 
of  Bramah  and  Vishnu,  whilst  a  device  of  His  ad- 
vent may  be  perceived,  more  or  less  faintly,  in  the 
musings  of  Plato,  in  the  sighs  of  Socrates,  and  in 
Virgil's  beautiful  vision.  But  the  true  doctrine  of 
sacrifice  soon  got  divorced  from  the  practice,  and, 
losing  sight  of  the  Lamb  of  God  who  should  take 
away  the  sin  of  the  world,  the  descendants  of  Noah 
found  poor  consolation  in  that  blood  of  bulls  and 
goats  w^hich  can  never  cancel  transgression.  With 
most  of  them  the  offering  became  a  mere  bribe  to 
the  Deity,  the  price  of  some  favour  which  they 
wished  to  procure  ;  and  those  who  retained  the  idea 
of  a  vicarious  atonement,  like  the  earlier  Greeks, 
and  like  the  Phoenicians,  the  predecessors  of  the 
Jews  in  Palestine,  by  way  of  adding  value  to  the 
victim,  and  rendering  it  actually  life  for  life,  they 
outraged  Heaven's  Majesty  by  the  slaughter  of  a 


330  THE  HERMIT  NATION. 

human  sacrifice,  and  by  giving  the  fruit  of  their 
body  for  the  sin  of  their  soul. 

Dark  and  dreadful  as  some  of  these  systems  were, 
it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  they  were  perversions 
of  an  original  truth.  When  that  coin  came  from 
the  mint  its  milled  edges  were  sharp,  its  image  and 
inscription  stood  out,  and  its  lustre  was  spotless. 
But  now  that  it  has  passed  through  ten  thousand 
hands,  wantonly  defaced  by  some  and  inevitably 
worn  by  others,  it  has  thinned  down  into  a  mere 
glittering  scale,  a  blank  unmeaning  counter ;  or  you 
drop  it  into  the  sea,  and  years  afterwards,  at  the 
same  spot,  you  dredge  up  a  curious  conglomerate,  a 
mass  of  pebbles,  shells,  and  sand,  all  aggregated 
round  a  black  and  rusty  nucleus ;  and  it  is  only  by 
dint  of  assiduous  polishing,  or  by  the  use  of  some 
chemical  re-agent,  that  you  recognise  your  lost  piece 
of  silver.  As  the  world's  second  father  received 
the  truth  from  God,  it  was  all  in  Heaven's  own  cur- 
rency, full  weight  and  without  a  flaw,  and  what 
would  have  been  accepted  in  the  Great  King's  assay. 
But  as  soon  as  it  began  to  circulate  it  began  to 
deteriorate.  Some  truths  simply  wore  out.  The 
Sabbath,  for  example,  soon  ceasing  to  be  a  day  of 
rest  and  religion,  thinned  off  into  a  mere  nonentity ; 
and  although  most  nations  deemed  seven  a  sacred 
number,  and  counted  time  by  weeks  of  seven  days, 
they  could  give  no  right  reason  for  the  usage.     But 


THE  HERMIT  NATION.  331 

most  truths  get  tarnished  and  corroded.  Consigned 
to  no  written  record,  when  intrusted  to  the  memory 
of  man,  with  all  his  prejudices  and  bad  propensities, 
they  were  like  shillings  dropt  into  the  tide.  When 
next  you  see  them  you  can  hardly  recognise  them, 
crusted  over  with  such  uncouth  or  monstrous  addi- 
tions, and  changed  into  a  substance  so  remote  from 
the  bright  original.  This  black  mass,  slippery  with 
weeds  and  crawling  with  sea- worms,  who  could  con- 
ceive that  it  was  hiding  in  its  heart  a  shekel  of  the 
sanctuary  ?  And  even  when  you  get  at  the  nucleus, 
it  is  so  damaged  and  decomposed  that  you  feel  it  is 
now  good  for  nothing;  it  must  be  cast  into  the 
furnace  and  melted  anew  before  it  will  be  accepted 
as  precious  metal  again.  And  just  so,  when  we 
dredge  into  the  sea  of  ancient  history,  or  when  we 
dive  into  the  dark  places  of  the  present  day,  and 
bring  up  some  ugly  superstition,  it  is  hard  to  believe, 
and  yet  it  is  often  true,  that  its  core  is  one  of  these 
old  Noachian  coins ;  and  although  man's  tradition 
has  so  corrupted  God's  saying  as  to  give  it  the 
aspect  and  effect  of  an  impious  falsehood,  even  under 
that  falsehood  may  be  detected  a  trace  of  the  primi- 
tive truth.  "  When  they  knew  God,  they  glorified 
him  not  as  God,  but  became  vain  in  their  imagina- 
tions, and  their  foolish  heart  was  darkened.  Pro- 
fessing themselves  to  be  wise,  they  became  fools, 
and,  making  corruptible  images  of  the  incorruptible 


332  THE  HERMIT  NATION. 

God,  tliey  changed  his  truth  into  a  lie,  and  wor- 
shipped and  served  the  creature  rather  than  the 
Creator.  And  as  they  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in 
their  knowledge,  God  gave  them  over  to  a  reprobate 
mind."  When,  as  in  the  days  of  the  post-diluvian 
patriarchs,  they  possessed  the  knowledge,  they  lacked 
the  piety,  and  for  want  of  the  piety  they  soon  lost 
the  knowledge.  "  Their  foolish  heart  was  darkened." 
But  still,  for  all  their  first  germs  of  knowledge  they 
were  indebted  to  God's  own  teaching.  Their  most 
horrible  superstition  was  a  truth  of  God,  which  they 
had  "  changed  into  a  lie;"  and  as  the  beginning  of 
idolatry  we  recognise  the  abuse  of  symbols  and  the 
depravation  of  a  theology  originally  true  ;  and  at  the 
basis  of  every  sacrifice,  however  mercenary  in  its 
spirit,  and  however  offensive  in  its  mode,  we  recog- 
nise a  reminiscence,  distant  and  distorted  no  doubt, 
but  still  a  reminiscence,  of  what  was  in  the  beginning 
a  Divine  institution.  In  other  words,  the  fragments 
of  truth  which  have  come  down  in  the  heathen 
religions  are  relics  of  the  primeval  and  universal 
religion  which  issued  from  the  ark  with  Noah,  and 
with  that  Church  of  which  Noah  was  the  pastor 
and  the  priest ;  and  just  as  we  call  Popery  a  cor- 
ruption of  Christianity,  so  may  we  call  Paganism 
a  corruption  of  Patriarchism — a  perversion  of  the 
primitive  and  catholic  religion. 

Or,  to  revert  to  the  comparison  which  we  made  at 


THE  HERMIT  NATION.  333 

the  beginning  :  from  Ararat  there  flowed  a  stream 
of  revelation  fresh  and  pure,  and  had  the  channel 
been  retentive,  had  men's  hearts  been  honest,  and 
had  they  liked  to  retain  God's  truth  in  their  know- 
ledge, that  stream  might  have  come  down  to  the 
era  of  the  Advent  pellucid  and  ample,  and  making 
wise  unto  salvation  the  successive  ages  as  it  passed. 
But  as  its  course  extended  it  was  soon  perceived 
that  its  volume  was  lessening  and  its  contents  were 
corrupting.  It  was  not  merely  as  if  it  had  come  to 
a  sultry  desert  where  it  was  likely  to  disappear  in 
the  burning  sand ;  but  it  had  reached  a  swampy 
wilderness,  where  it  was  sure  to  merge  in  the  brack - 
ishness  and  noisomeness  of  the  festering  ooze,  and 
retain  no  token  of  that  gladsome  river  which  took 
its  rise  at  Noah's  altar  and  beneath  the  rainbow  of 
God's  covenant.  It  pleased  the  Most  High  to 
obviate  this  disaster.  By  narrowing  the  channel 
He  saved  the  stream.  He  no  longer  left  the  con- 
servation of  His  truth  to  the  world  at  large ;  but 
He  selected  a  people  and  set  up  a  system  which 
should  place  the  great  saving  doctrines  beyond  the 
casualties  of  time  and  the  caprice  of  changing  gene- 
rations. He  segregated  from  all  the  families  of  the 
earth  the  line  of  faithful  Abraham,  and  He  set  up 
that  peculiar  institution  which  is  known  as  the 
Levitical  Economy,  or  Mosaic  Dispensation. 

Precisely  as  before  the  flood,  all  flesh  were  again 


334  THE  HERMIT  NATION. 

corrupting  tlieir  way,  and  there  was  every  danger 
that  true  religion  would  utterly  expire.  If  left  any 
longer  to  the  memory  of  mankind  at  large,  it  was  plain 
that  the  promise  of  a  Saviour  and  the  true  doctrine 
of  sacrifice,  and  Sabbath-keeping,  and  the  know- 
ledge of  God's  perfections,  would  soon  be  extinct. 
And  whilst  there  was  still  a  godly  remnant,  the 
Most  High  chose  out  a  specific'  depository  for  the 
all-important  revelation.  So  to  speak.  He  formed 
a  canal  or  aqueduct  along  which  the  stream  might 
be  conducted  safe  from  the  irruption  of  the  bitter 
and  offensive  fen  on  either  side.  And  although, 
with  its  straight  and  monotonous  banks  and  un- 
varying width,  the  canal  is  not  so  picturesque  as  the 
free  meandering  river,  in  such  a  case  it  is  the  only 
security.  He  not  only  took  the  new  method  of 
confiding  His  precepts  and  promises  to  a  written 
record — the  tables  of  stone  and  the  book  of  the 
covenant,  but  He  had  recourse  to  an  additional 
precaution,  and  these  lively  oracles  thus  written 
down  He  intrusted  to  a  2^eculiar  people.  The  very 
existence  of  that  people  as  a  nation  he  bound  up 
with  the  preservation  of  these  records,  and  thus 
secured  in  His  wisdom  a  twofold  guarantee  for  their 
unimpaired  transmission.  It  was  as  if  the  engineer 
of  our  artificial  river  had  intrusted  its  embankments 
to  some  special  clan  whom  he  appointed  its  guar- 
dians, so  contriving  it  that  if  through  their  fault  any 


THE  HERMIT  NATION.  335 

breach  were  committed  their  own  supply  should  be 
cut  off  or  their  own  fields  should  be  flooded.  Or 
perhaps  it  w^ould  be  niore  correct  to  say,  that  for  His 
revelation  God  provided  a  twofold  receptacle  :  writ- 
ing it  in  letters  of  ink  on  the  Hebrew  Bible,  and  in 
indelible  usages  and  unaltering  ideas  inscribing  it  on 
the  Hebrew  people.  It  was  a  concentric  channel : 
within,  the  tables  of  stone  compactly  joined  together ; 
without,  the  concrete,  almost  as  impervious,  of  a 
nationality  the  most  tenacious  and  cohesive  which 
our  world  has  ever  witnessed, — the  living  network 
of  willows  by  the  water- courses,  whose  fond 
branches  skim  the  glassy  current,  whilst  their 
wattled  rootlets  guard  and  cradle  the  bed  in  w^hich 
that  current  flows. 

With  their  precious  deposit  of  a  revelation  at  once 
written  and  ritual,  it  was  the  purpose  of  God  that 
the  people  should  "  dwell  alone,"  and  not  be  mingled 
with  the  nations ;  and  with  this  design  He  made  it 
difficult  for  them  to  go  far  from  home,  and  at  the 
same  time  inconvenient  and  distasteful  to  associate 
with  strangers.  It  was  not  only  by  depriving  them 
of  horses  and  giving  them  no  instinct  for  the  ocean, 
that  the  Divine  Lawgiver  confined  them  to  their  own 
country ;  but,  by  appointing  festivals  which  required 
their  attendance  in  the  capital  three  times  a  year. 
He  rendered  long  journeys  all  but  impossible.  On 
the  other  hand,  by  prescribing  rules  as  to  their  daily 


336  THE  HERMIT  NATION. 

life, — rules  of  singular  minuteness  as  to  things  which 
they  must  not  taste,  nor  touch,  nor  handle, — He 
made  it  a  problem  full  of  anxiety  and  peril  to  travel 
among  their  heathen  neighbours  or  to  have  their 
heathen  neighbours  sojourning  with  them.  And 
altogether,  betwixt  that  short  cable  which  kept  them 
moored  to  the  Temple,  and  that  regimen  which  made 
them  and  the  rest  of  the  world  so  ungainly  if  not 
odious  to  one  another.  He  secured  for  this  singular 
people  a  seclusion  almost  as  absolute  as  if  they  had 
been  transported  to  some  island  in  a  distant  sea. 

Thus  isolated,  shut  up  in  the  calm  enclosure  of 
their  Holy  Land,  the  Most  High  commenced  that 
series  of  lessons  by  which  He  educated  the  pupil 
nation  up  to  the  proper  point  for  appreciating 
Messiah  when  He  came,  and  on  the  strength  of 
which  her  more  proficient  scholars  were  destined  to 
become  the  recipients  of  the  final  revelation  and  the 
first  heralds  of  God's  mercies  to  mankind.  But 
without  stretching  away  into  a  theme  so  vast  as  is 
that  anomalous  Hebrew  history,  our  present  object 
is  to  see  the  precise  relation  which  that  Hebrew 
system  bears  to  its  patriarchal  predecessor.  And  if 
we  do  not  greatly  err,  it  may,  as  already  hinted,  be 
described  as  a  reservoir  or  artificial  channel,  in 
which  the  remains  of  patriarchal  theology  were 
conserved,  and  in  which  provision  was  made  for  the 
reception  and  transmission  of  all  the  intermediate 


THE  HERMIT  NATION.  337 

revelation  which  Jehovah  might  vouchsafe  till  the 
Word  should  be  made  flesh,  and  grace  and  truth 
should  come  in  Jesus  Christ. 

What  all  remained  of  the  patriarchal  or  primeval 
theology,  it  is  vain  to  conjecture  :  but  all  that  re- 
mained, we  may  safely  assert,  was  absorbed  into  the 
new  dispensation.  For  if  we  found  a  Sabbath  in 
Paradise,  and  signs  of  a  Sabbath  in  the  Ark,  and  if 
we  find  in  the  readiness  with  which  it  was  recog- 
nised in  the  wilderness  that  it  had  not  been  abso- 
lutely forgotten  in  the  brick-kilns  of  Egypt,  this 
patriarchal  Sabbath  was  adopted  and  sanctioned  as 
one  of  the  most  prominent  features  in  the  Hebrew 
economy.  If  we  found  graciously  given  to  the  exiles 
of  Eden  the  promise  of  a  Saviour,  under  the  name 
of  Shiloh,  and  the  prophet  like  unto  Moses,  and  the 
root  and  offspring  of  David,  we  find  the  promise 
repeated  and  restricted  till  the  Desire  of  the  World 
became  the  hope  and  the  proud  prospect  of  Israel. 
If  our  first  father  knew  the  Father  of  Spirits  in  the 
awe  of  His  justice  as  well  as  the  endearment  of  His 
mercy,  and  if  the  world's  second  father  saw  the 
Divine  perfections  diffracted,  as  in  yonder  symbolic 
bow,  in  the  various  tints  of  vengeance,  patience, 
pity,  the  founder  of  that  new  dispensation  saw  the 
scattered  rays  again  united  in  the  white  focus  of  the 
burning  bush,  and  in  the  name,  "The  Lord  God, 
merciful  and  gracious,  forgiving  iniquity,  yet  by  no 

Y 


338  THE  HERMIT  NATION. 

means  clearing  tlie  guilty,"  received  a  presentiment 
of  the  great  gospel  announcement,  "God  is  love." 
And  if  substitution  and  expiation  by  sacrifice  are  as 
ancient  as  the  world  before  the  flood,  we  find  the 
principle  assumed  and  the  practice  systematized, 
codified,  reduced  to  a  rubric,  in  the  statute-book  of 
Israel,  and  the  precedents  of  Abel,  Noah,  and 
Melchisedec,  carried  out  in  the  priesthood  of  Levi, 
and  in  those  altars  which  did  not  cease  to  smoke 
for  fifteen  centuries. 

And  yet,  although  so  much  of  the  old  patriarchal 
revelation  was  restored  or  preserved  in  the  Hebrew 
economy,  the  knowledge  of  God,  access  to  Him 
through  mediation,  the  hope  of  a  Eedeemer,  sacrifice, 
and  Sabbath-keeping, — in  other  words,  although 
Judaism  was  in  one  respect  a  reform  from  Pa- 
ganism and  a  return  to  the  pure  and  primitive 
Patriarchism  (as  Protestantism  is  a  reform  from 
Popery,  and  a  return  to  pure  and  primitive  apo- 
stolism),  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  in  all  its  out- 
ward form  and  figure  it  was  a  very  different  system ; 
and  could  an  Abel  or  an  Enoch  have  made  the 
direct  transition  from  the  palmy  days  of  the  patriar- 
chal piety  to  the  era  of  the  Aaronic  priesthood,  he 
might  have  felt  it  a  change  from  liberty  to  bondage, 
and  from  sunshine  to  clouds  and  shadows.  And 
even  although  the  actual  transition  was  from  an  old 
dispensation's  twilight   to  a  new  one's  dawn,   and 


THE  HERMIT  NATION.  339 

from  the  vagueness  and  uncertainty  of  decaying 
tradition  to  the  precision  and  permanence  of  a 
written  revelation,  so  narrow  was  the  range,  so 
strict  the  rubric,  and  so  stern  the  threatenings 
of  the  new  economy,  that,  looking  back  to  that 
incident  in  the  childhood  of  the  Church  of  God,  we 
feel  as  if  it  then  had  quitted  the  lap  of  a  nursing 
mother  to  be  under  the  bondage  of  a  schoolmaster. 
Its  first  salutation, — one  which  the  wild  and  way- 
ward scholar  greatly  needed,  but  still  a  salutation 
harsh  and  startling, — was  in  the  hoarse  thunder  of 
Sinai,  and  its  first  lesson  a  severer  ordeal  than 
Pythagoras  imposed  on  his  pupils,  a  novitiate  of 
forty  years'  silence,  a  probation  not  of  forty  days 
but  of  forty  years,  in  which  one  murmuring  word 
would  be  fatal.  And  the  task  which  was  prescribed, 
and  which  it  took  a  thousand  years  to  learn,  was 
enforced  by  so  many  pains  and  penalties,  and  truant 
moments  were  visited  by  corrections  so  severe,  that 
after  ages  of  so  strict  a  monitor  we  do  not  wonder 
that  it  was  felt  a  joyful  emancipation  when  Jesus 
stretched  out  His  hands  and  said,  "  Come  unto  me, 
all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest ;"  we  do  not  wonder  that  in  exchang- 
ing Moses  for  Messiah  those  who  made  the  trial 
declared  His  yoke  to  be  easy  and  His  burden  light. 


XXIIL 

^h^  3|ermit  Ration. 

"  For  from  the  top  of  the  rocks  I  see  him,  and  from  the  hills  I  behold 
him  :  lo,  the  people  shall  dwell  alone,  and  shall  not  he  reckoned 
among  the  nations." — Numb,  xxiii.  9. 

In  last  Lecture  we  saw  liow  the  Patriarchal  passed 
into  the  Hebrew  dispensation.  It  was  needful  to 
narrow  the  channel  in  order  to  save  the  stream.  For 
our  present  purpose  we  do  not  require  to  ask,  What 
became  of  the  residue  ?  What  became  of  those  little 
rills  which  were  not  included  in  the  great  artificial 
canal,  but  w^hich  were  allowed  to  run  off  into  the 
great  expanse  of  humanity?  It  is  an  interesting 
inquiry,  and  justice  has  hardly  been  done  it.  Too 
frequently,  and  in  forgetfulness  of  what  the  Bible 
tells,  it  has  been  assumed  that  the  whole  of  that 
primeval  revelation  evaporated  and  left  no  trace. 
But  although  the  trace  may  be  minute  or  the  stream 
may  be  muddy,  there  is  nevertheless  an  appreciable 
tincture  of  primeval  truth  in  almost  all  the  religions 
of  Paganism.  It  may  not  be  sufficient  to  make  men 
better;  nay,  like  that  pure  element  which  carries 

340 


THE  HERMIT  NATION.  341 

health  and  exhilaration  in  its  free  and  open  current, 
but  whicli  in  its  stagnant  overflow  converts  into  a 
pestilent  swamp  what  before  was  but  a  barren 
wilderness,  the  corruption  of  a  truth  may  be  more 
offensive  and  more  deadly  than  simple  ignorance, 
yet  still  they  are  not  without  significance,  those 
vestiges  of  primeval  verity.  What  means  this 
tradition,  so  prevailing,  of  a  golden  age  that  w^as, 
this  longing,  so  universal,  for  a  better  time  not  seen 
as  yet  ?  Whence  this  dark  discomfort,  this  con- 
science of  sin,  this  dreary  feeling  that  God  and 
man  are  disagreed,  and  whence  this  general  effort 
to  get  anew  into  a  right  relation?  those  peace- 
offerings  and  vows  and  sacrifices  which  confess 
transgTCSsion,  and  plead  for  pardon  and  for  mercies 
otherwise  unmerited  ?  Are  they  not  the  relics  of  a 
better  religion  that  once  existed  ?  a  few  fragments, 
rusty  and  corroded  perhaps,  of  that  earlier  truth 
which  in  ISToah's  ark  was  transported  from  the  old 
w^orld  to  the  new  ? — so  many  little  pools  or  runnels 
which  in  their  choked  and  struggling  course  are  still 
derived  from  the  fountain  which  started  so  clear  and 
strong  on  Ararat  ? 

But  for  the  present  we  take  leave  of  this  primeval 
and  catholic  revelation,  with  its  fast-disappearing  and 
corrupting  remains.  We  need  not  even  discuss  the 
question  how  far  it  was  possible  for  the  Gentiles  to 
come  to  the  saving  knowledge  of  God  with  the  light 


342  THE  HERMIT  NATION. 

that  in  some  places  lingered  after  the  Mosaic  dis- 
pensation was  established.  Our  business  now  lies 
with  that  little  country  which,  for  fifteen  centuries, 
was  the  Goshen  of  the  earth  ;  the  one  illumined 
region  in  a  world  whose  spiritual  gloom  was  deepen- 
ing age  by  age,  till  at  last  it  had  become  a  darkness 
that  might  be  felt.  We  are  to  contemplate  that 
system  which  at  first  sight  is  to  many  of  us  cumbrous 
and  uncouth,  but  which,  on  nearer  inspection,  we 
shall  find,  like  the  other  works  of  Jehovah,  a  master- 
piece of  wisdom  wonderful. 

And  looking  at  Judaism,  the  first  thing  that  strikes 
us  is  its  local  limitation.  Here  is  a  little  spot  of 
10,000  square  miles,^  about  one  five-thousandth  part 
of  the  globe's  terrestrial  surface,  or  a  fifth  of  ^England's 
area  ;  and  in  this  little  nook  we  find  locked  up  the 
peculiar  people,  the  privileged  possessors  of  the  only 
authentic  religion,  the  exclusive  guardians  of  the  one 
Divine  revelation.  The  people  dwell  alone,  and  are 
not  reckoned  among  the  nations.  And  it  is  not  only 
that  their  territory  is  small,  for,  like  the  eagle  whose 
home  is  a  crag,  but  whose  hunting  field  is  the  entire 
domain  of  ocean,  earth,  and  air,  Macedonia,  Carthage, 
and  Eome  nestled  on  a  narrow  ledge,  but  made  the 
flap  of  their  pinions  heard  afar  ;  but,  with  the  fire  of 
ambition  blazing  in  his  eye,  Israel  is  an  eagle  whose 

1  The  area  of  the  Holy  Land  was  about  10,000  square  miles.     The 
terrestrial  area  of  the  globe  is  upwards  of  48,000,000  of  square  miles. 


THE  HERMIT  NATION.  343 

wings  have  been  shorn.  Without  horses,  without  a 
navy,  without  the  talent  for  conquest  or  command, 
he  is  forced  to  tarry  at  home ;  and  religion  requires 
what  Providence  indicates:  for  he  must  not  lose 
sight  of  the  Temple,  he  must  not  mingle  among 
strangers,  whose  very  touch  is  defilement,  he  must 
not  lodge  in  their  tainted  dwellings  nor  sit  down  at 
their  idolatrous  boards.  And  therefore,  only  known 
to  his  neighbours  for  his  strange  unsocial  ways, 
he  dwells  apart,  like  the  cony  of  his  own  over- 
shadowing Lebanon,  a  hermit  nation,  a  mysterious 
recluse,  a  sequestered  and  separate  community, 
building  his  houses  on  the  rock,  and  chiefly  protected 
by  his  isolation.  Of  purpose.  Such  was  the  design 
of  the  Most  High.  He  desired  to  isolate  the  peo- 
ple. To  intrust  the  forthcoming  revelation  to  the 
world  at  large  would  have  been  to  lose  it,  but  to 
secure  its  conservation  He  prepared  a  place  and  a 
people.  That  revelation  should  not  again  be  water 
spilt  upon  the  ground,  but,  collected  into  this  reser- 
voir, it  should  be  guarded  with  religious  care  by  a 
race  who  knew  that  their  national  existence  was 
bound  up  with  its  integrity,  and  who,  instead  of 
courting  foreign  alliances  or  aspiring  to  imperial 
dominion,  felt  that  they  had  a  mission  still  more 
august,  and  that,  as  custodiers  of  God's  oracles,  and 
guardians  of  His  temple,  they  had  a  distinction  above 
all  the  peoples  tliat  dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 


344  THE  HERMIT  NATION. 

Hence  everything  was  done  to  keep  them  at  home, 
and  to  keep  them  separate.  Hence  was  it  that  a 
dietary  was  prescribed  which  made  the  Hebrew  a 
tronblesome  guest  and  an  uneasy  traveller  in  the 
land  of  the  Gentiles.  Hence  was  it  that  his  means 
of  locomotion  were  taken  away,  and  that  a  few  days' 
radius  from  the  Temple  became  the  necessary  limit 
of  Hebrew  horn  es.  Hence  was  it  that  the  heart  of  the 
Jew  was  taught  to  cling  with  a  tremendous  tenacity 
to  his  Holy  Land,  till  exile  became  the  sorest  of 
judgments,  and  a  grave  in  the  sacred  soil  was  deemed 
almost  essential  to  a  joyful  resurrection. 

But  looking  again  at  Judaism,  we  are  struck 
with  the  minuteness  of  its  rubric  and  the  rigidity  of 
its  ritual.  Not  only  was  the  isolation  of  the  peculiar 
people  a  great  contrast  to  the  catholic  patriarchism 
which  went  before,  and  to  the  world-embracing 
gospel  which  followed ;  but  their  singular  system 
was  a  striking  antithesis  to  the  law  of  liberty  which 
marked  primeval  and  apostolic  times.  With  the 
Jew,  religion  was  itself  a  business.  Almost  every 
movement  was  fettered  by  certain  rules  and  pre- 
scriptions, and  it  required  much  circumspection  to 
pass  unscathed  through  a  single  day.  To  take  the 
most  obvious  example  :  Our  Lord  has  taught  Chris- 
tians to  eat  whatever  is  set  before  them,  thanking 
God,  and  asking  no  questions  ;  and  the  meal  is  now 
religious  if  he  who  partakes  it  eats  and  drinks  to 


THE  HEEMIT  NATION.  345 

the  glory  of  God.  But  in  order  to  be  a  safe  meal  to 
the  Hebrew,  it  was  needful  that  the  viands  should 
be  of  a  certain  description,  and  that  they  should  be 
prepared  according  to  a  certain  formula.  On  par- 
ticular days  it  would  have  been  a  trespass  to  eat 
bread  with  leaven,  and  on  any  day  it  would  have 
been  a  serious  offence  to  partake  of  delicacies  much 
prized  among  the  neighbouring  nations  :  so  that 
the  Shadrachs  and  Meshachs,  the  truly  conscien- 
tious, were  sometimes  constrained  to  send  away 
uutasted  dainties  from  a  royal  feast,  and  appease 
their  hunger  with  pulse  and  lentils.  And  even 
after  every  precaution  had  been  observed,  although 
it  was  known  that  the  viands  were  all  authorized  and 
properly  prepared,  various  accidents  might  mar  the 
meal  and  disperse  the  famished  group  from  around 
the  polluted  table.  And  then  if,  all  his  circumspection 
notwithstanding,  the  Israelite  were  betrayed  into 
some  transgression,  it  was  both  a  laborious  and 
expensive  ordeal  to  expiate  the  offence  and  elimi- 
nate its  consequences.  There  was  the  bathing,  and 
there  was  the  costly  sacrifice,  and  there  was  the 
exclusion  from  the  society  of  one's  friends,  so  irk- 
some, and  often  so  inopportune.  And  in  order  to 
have  some  idea  of  the  Hebrew's  trammelled  life,  w^e 
have  only  to  read  their  great  directory,  Leviticus, 
which,  with  its  meats  and  drinks  and  divers  wash- 
ings and  carnal  ordinances,  still  stands  upon  the 


346  THE  HERMIT  NATION. 

record  to  teacli  us,  among  other  lessons,  from  what  a 
yoke  of  bondage  the  Saviour  has  set  His  people  free. 
It  was  a  burdensome  institute ;  but  there  was  a 
meaning  in  its  very  burdensomeness.  ^o  doubt,  to 
many  its  very  chains  grew  golden,  and  its  yoke 
became  a  proud  badge  of  distinction  ;  and  as  if  its 
fetters  were  not  sufficiently  felt,  the  later  Jews 
busied  themselves  in  contriving  new  prohibitions 
and  in  multiplying  ritual  minutiae.  Still,  to  the  freer 
spirits  of  that  legal  economy,  especially  when  it  was 
waxing  old  and  ready  to  vanish  aw^ay,  there  was 
an  irksome  restraint  in  its  ceremonial  routine  and 
punctilious  regulations  ;  and,  like  the  winged  crea- 
ture developing  within  the  crust  of  the  creeping 
thing,  they  panted  for  larger  fields  and  a  higher 
flight.  They  groaned  and  travailed  till  the  Son  of 
God  was  manifest ;  and  when  at  the  resurrection - 
word,  "  Loose  him  and  let  him  go,"  the  cerements 
burst  and  the  grave-clothes  fell  off,  it  was  with  an 
exulting  shout  that  Pauline  spirits  hailed  the  liberty 
wherewith  Christ  had  made  His  people  free,  and 
refused  to  be  again  entangled  w^ith  the  yoke  of 
bondage. 

In  its  limited  locality,  and  in  its  punctilious 
ritual,  Judaism  differed  from  both  the  Patriarchism 
which  preceded  it  and  the  Christianity  which  fol- 
lowed. For  fifteen  centuries  Jerusalem  was  the 
focus  of  all  light,  the  magnet  of  all  piety,  the  one 


THE  HERMIT  NATION.  347 

place  for  acceptable  worship.  Arid  during  all  that 
period  the  Levitical  code  was  binding, — a  code  so 
difficult  that  few  could  observe  it  except  those  born 
and  brought  up  under  it,  and  who  had  for  its  details 
something  of  a  hereditary  instinct. 

But  if  in  these  respects  Judaism  was  unique, 
when  we  look  at  it  again  we  observe  one  feature  in 
which  it  closely  resembled  the  dispensation  that 
followed,  and  that  is,  in  the  possession  of  a  written 
revelation.  It  had  now  been  ascertained  that  the 
true  faith  could  not  be  kept  alive  by  tradition. 
Man's  memory  was  too  treacherous  to  be  intrusted 
with  a  matter  so  distasteful  to  his  fallen  spirit  as 
the  true  character  of  God  ;  and  even  where  there 
was  a  traditional  theology,  like  the  stream  wdiich 
flows  through  many  soils,  and  which  takes  a  bitter 
taste  from  one  and  a  dusky  tint  from  another,  in  its 
transmission  from  race  to  race  it  was  found  that  the 
oral  revelation  grcAV  dark  and  offensive.  In  this 
stagnant  swamp,  weltering  with  reptiles  and  fuming 
with  pestilence,  who  can  recognise  the  stream  which 
bounded  from  the  Alpine  crag,  pure  as  the  melted 
snow  and  salubrious  as  Heaven's  own  precipitate  ? 
And  in  these  Gentile  religions,  all  alive  with  hideous 
pagods  and  deadly  with  abominable  idolatries,  who 
could  believe  that  this  is  what  man  has  made  of 
that  Revelation  which  started  on  its  course  from 
Ararat  so  clear  and  peUucid  ?     But  by  consigning  it 


348  THE  HERMIT  NATION. 

to  a  written  record,  the  Most  High  took  care  that, 
uncorrupted  and  undiminished,  His  oracles  should 
continue  lively  to  the  last ;  and  He  made  it  at  once 
the  duty  and  the  distinction  of  the  Jews  that  to 
them  these  oracles  were  committed  :  their  distinc- 
tion to  have  a  treasure  so  unique  confided  to  their 
keeping,  their  duty  to  preserve  it  unimpaired.  Ages 
of  ignorance  or  error  might  intervene ;  but  here  in 
the  volume  of  the  Book  was  the  well  of  wisdom 
undefiled,  and  though  a  thousand  years  might  have 
passed  away  since  the  thunders  of  Sinai  fell  silent, 
here  evermore  the  worshipper  who  prays,  "  I 
beseech  Thee,  show  me  Thy  glory,"  sees  God's 
stately  goings  and  hears  that  very  Name  which  was 
proclaimed  unto  Moses  ;  and  although  it  has  wan- 
dered many  a  sultry  mile  since  it  left  the  heights  of 
Zion,  though  to  reach  these  Avillows  of  Babylon 
it  has  had  to  cross  a  weary  desert,  this  is  the  very 
brook  from  which  the  panting  Psalmist  drank,  at 
which  the  soul,  thirsting  for  God,  the  living  God, 
now  drinks  and  is  refreshed. 

The  pre-eminence  of  a  written  revelation  is  un- 
speakable. It  is  a  permanent  provision  not  only 
for  the  satisfying  of  every  longing  soul,  but  for  the 
constant  reviving  of  the  Church.  When,  like 
Patriarchism,  a  traditional  revelation  has  once 
grown  turbid,  man  possesses  no  filter  which  can 
clarify  it  again  ;  but  written  down,  however  bad  the 


THE  HERMIT  NATION.  349 

times  may  grow,  the  book  preserves  it  pure  and 
limpid  to  the  last.  And  like  the  Wycliffes  and 
Luthers  of  the  Christian  time,  when  the  Church  was 
dead  and  faith  almost  extinct,  the  Josiahs  and  the 
Ezras  of  the  Hebrew  time  had  only  to  bring  out  the 
Book  of  the  Law,  and  Jehovah  spake  once  more, 
and  the  people  trembled  before  Him. 

But  if,  in  its  written  records,  its  documentary 
and  enduring  revelation,  Judaism  anticipated  the 
Christian  dispensation,  it  was  a  prolongation  of 
Patriarchism  in  its  continued  use  of  ty2:)es  and 
emllems.  There  were  types  in  Paradise  :  for  the 
tree  of  life  was  an  emblem  of  Him  who  grows  in 
the  midst  of  God's  garden,  and  of  whom  partaking 
the  soul  lives  for  ever.  There  were  types  before 
the  Flood :  for  the  Sabbath  is  a  type  of  the  rest 
which  remains  for  the  people  of  God ;  and  Sacrifice 
was  a  foreshadowing  of  that  Lamb  of  God  whose 
one  offering  should  for  ever  take  away  sin.  And 
if  the  Flood  itself  w^as  not  a  type,  assuredly  the  Ark 
was  one,  in  which  "  the  church  of  the  saved "  was 
rescued  from  a  doomed  world,  and  deposited  in 
safety  beneath  the  bow  of  God's  covenant.  But 
in  the  Mosaic  dispensation  these  types  grew  so 
numerous  that  time  would  fail  should  we  reckon 
the  whole ;  those  objects  and  observances  and  in- 
cidents which  all  had  a  shadow  of  good  things  to 
come  :  the  High  Priest,  the  Tabernacle,  the  Temple, 


350  THE  HERMIT  NATION. 

the  Veil,  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  the  Table  of 
Shewbread,  the  Cities  of  Eefuge,  the  Morning  and 
Evening  Sacrifice,  the  Day  of  Atonement,  the  Pass- 
over, the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  the  Law  of  the  Leper, 
the  Healing  of  Marah,  the  Descent  of  the  Manna, 
the  Smitten  Eock,  the  Guiding  Pillar,  the  Passage  of 
Jordan,  the  Destruction  of  Jericho.  And  without 
descanting  at  present  on  all  the  advantages  or 
drawbacks  of  this  mode  of  instruction,  it  will  be 
conceded  that  it  was  one  well  adapted  to  the  early- 
state  of  society.  If  it  was  not  so  precise  or  ex- 
pository as  writing,  it  was  more  arresting,  and  in  an 
age  when  few  could  read  it  was  a  universal  lan- 
guage. In  fact  their  system  of  types  gave  the  Jews 
the  benefit  of  a  twofold  Bible.  They  had  a  written 
Bible  and  they  had  a  pictorial  Bible.  They  had 
a  Bible,  written  on  the  parchment  rolls,  which  the 
scribes  and  the  scholars  could  read ;  and  they  had 
another  blazing  on  Aaron's  breastplate,  and  curling 
up  in  the  smoke  of  the  altar,  and  hovering  over  the 
mercy-seat,  a  Bible  which  the  runner  could  read, 
and  which  the  infant  and  peasant  could  spell ; 
whilst  to  the  Master  in  Israel  both  Bibles  were 
patent,  and  the  one  expounded  the  other.  For  in- 
stance, if  a  Hebrew  believer  had  been  looking  at 
his  pictorial  Bible,  and  the  question  had  arisen. 
What  mean  these  endless  washings  ?  what  means 
this  laver  in  the  Temple,  and  this  constant  resorting 


THE  HERMIT  NATION.  351 

of  the  ceremonially  unclean  to  tlie  running  river  ? 
lie  had  only  to  open  his  written  Bible  and  read, 
"  In  that  day  there  shall  be  a  fountain  opened  to 
the  house  of  David  and  to  the  inhabitants  of  Jeru- 
salem, for  sin  and  for  uncleanness."  "  Wash  you, 
make  you  clean ;  put  away  the  evil  of  your  doings 
from  before  mine  eyes ;  cease  to  do  evil ;  learn  to 
do  well.  Come  now,  and  let  us  reason  together, 
saith  the  Lord :  though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet, 
they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow ;  though  they  be 
red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool."  Or  if  he 
had  been  reading  in  his  written  Bible  about  Jeho- 
vah's majesty  or  sin-excluding  sanctity,  "  God  is 
greatly  to  be  feared  in  the  assembly  of  the  saints. 
Lord,  who  shall  abide  in  thy  tabernacle  ?  who  shall 
dwell  in  thy  holy  hill?"  most  likely  the  words 
would  make  faint  impression  on  his  mind ;  but 
when  he  went  up  to  the  house  of  God,  and  joined 
the  adoring  company,  as  afar  off  he  descried  the 
mystic  curtain  and  remembered  that  within  that 
Shekinah  dwelt  which  on  the  intrusive  foot  would 
flash  instant  and  devouring  flame, — as  he  marked 
how  anxiously  these  Levites  observed  each  minute 
prescription,  and  how  careful  was  Aaron's  successor 
not  to  approach  the  awful  shrine  save  with  incense 
and  with  blood, — he  felt  the  force  of  the  Psalmisfs 
question,  and  his  spirit  was  subdued  to  reverence. 
Thus  did  the  two  Bibles   illustrate  and  interpret 


352  THE  HERMIT  NATION. 

one  another.  Thus  what  was  dark  in  the  type 
was  made  clear  in  the  text,  and  what  failed  to 
impress  in  the  written  word  struck  the  sense  and 
filled  the  imagination  in  the  dramatic  or  pictorial 
oracle. 


XXIV. 


Let  thy  work  appear  unto  thy  servants,  and  thy  glory  unto  their 
children.  And  let  the  beauty  of  the  LoED  our  God  be  upon  us  : 
and  establish  thou  the  work  of  our  hands  upon  us  ;  yea,  the  work 
of  our  hands  establish  thou  it." — Ps.  xc.  16,  17. 


Although  some  difficulties  have  been  started, 
there  seems  no  reason  to  doubt  that  this  Psalm  is 
the  composition  of  Moses.  From  the  remotest 
period  his  name  has  been  attached  to  it,  and  almost 
every  Biblical  scholar,  from  Jerome  down  to  Heng- 
stenberg,  has  agreed  to  accept  it  as  a  prayer  of  that 
"  man  of  God  "  whose  name  it  has  always  carried. 

If  so,  it  is  one  of  the  oldest  poems  in  the  world. 
Compared  with  it  Homer  and  Pindar  are  (so  to 
speak)  modern,  and  even  King  David  is  of  recent 
date.  That  is  to  say,  compared  with  this  ancient 
hymn  the  other  psalms  are  as  much  more  modern 
as  Tennyson  and  Longfellow  are  more  modern  than 
Chaucer.  In  either  case  there  are  nearly  five  cen- 
turies between. 

The  occasion  on  which  it  was  written  can  only  be 
z 


354  "A  PKAYER  OF  MOSES, 

conjectured ;  but  from  internal  evidence  we  should 
say  that  it  must  have  been  either  towards  the  end 
of  the  wilderness  sojourn,  or  after  that  calamitous 
outburst  which  was  punished  by  a  lengthened  de- 
tention in  the  desert,  and  from  which  it  resulted 
that  of  those  who  were  forty  years  old  on  leaving 
Egypt  only  two  made  out  the  fourscore  and  arrived 
in  the  land  of  promise  (7-11). 

This  is  enough  to  account  for  the  tone  of  the 
Psalm,  so  pensive  and  plaintive.  Moses  himself 
was  an  exception.  He  had  nearly  made  out  the 
sixscore  years,  but  this  made  him  only  the  more 
lonely — the  greater  contrast  to  the  youthful  race 
which  had  started  up  around  him.  It  gave  him 
the  feeling  described  by  a  poet  of  our  own  (Dr. 
Young),— 

"  One  world  deceased,  another  born, 
Like  Noali  they  behold, 
O'er  whose  white  hair  and  furrow'd  brows 
Too  many  suns  have  roU'd. 

Happy  the  patriarch !  he  rejoiced 

His  second  world  to  see  ; 
My  second  world,  though  gay  the  scene, 

Can  boast  no  charms  for  me. 

To  me  this  brilliant  age  appears 

With  desolation  spread ; 
Near  all  with  whom  I  lived  and  smiled, 

Whilst  life  was  life,  are  dead." 

And  although  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that 
the  new  generation  was  an  immense  improvement 


THE  MAN  OF  GOD."  355 

on  its  predecessor,  it  had  the  drawback  of  being 
dreadfully  new.  It  contained  no  one  with  whom 
in  the  days  of  his  youth  the  Psalmist  had  been 
acquainted.  As  if  a  flood  had  swept  over  the 
scene,  that  race  had  been  carried  completely  away ; 
and  now  he  was  left  at  once  a  spectator  and  a 
spectacle, — in  the  midst  of  a  race  none  of  whom  had 
known  him  when  young, — like  the  primeval  oak  or 
elm  looking  down  on  a  whole  upstart  forest,  and 
himself  the  venerable  monument  of  a  generation 
which  had  utterly  vanished. 

Nothing  can  be  more  pathetic  than  the  middle 
portion — verses  3-10  ;  nor  can  anything  be  more 
expressive  than  the  imagery  under  which  the  short- 
ness of  our  earthly  existence  is  described.  Com- 
pared with  the  years  of  the  Eternal  it  is  nothing. 
Even  although  the  original  millennium  were  con- 
tinued— even  although  the  thousand  years  of  Adam 
and  Methusaleh  were  still  vouchsafed,— they  would 
pass,  and  after  they  were  past, — "  before  God's  sight," 
compared  with  the  years  of  the  Eternal,  they  would 
look  no  more  than  a  rapid  and  returnless  "  yester- 
day." Life,  he  says,  is  like  "  a  watch  in  the  night." 
The  weary  warrior  lays  him  down,  and  he  fancies 
that  he  has  hardly  closed  his  eyes — it  does  not  look 
like  forty  winks — when  he  is  roused  to  take  his 
turn  in  the  trenches  or  relieve  the  sentinel  on  the 
battlements,  or  join  the  forlorn-hope — the  storming 


356  "A  PKAYER  OF  MOSES, 

party  in  the  escalade.  And  like  such  a  short  "  sleep" 
is  our  mortal  history.  We  have  had  some  pleasant 
dreams,  and  others  rather  frightful :  when  we 
wake  up  and  see  a  ghastly  apparition  bending  over 
us.  "  What,  O  Death  !  is  that  you  already  ?  It 
cannot  possibly  be  time."  And  he  answers,  "  Yes, 
indeed.  The  tale  is  told ;  the  night  is  spent ;  and 
now  you  must  turn  out  into  the  morning.  Nor  is  it 
so  short  as  you  imagine.  Look  at  the  clock,  and 
you  will  see  that  it  has  come  to  threescore  and  ten. 
Look  into  the  mirror,  and  you  will  see  that  there  are 
snows  upon  your  head,  that  there  are  furrows  on 
your  brow,  that  there  are  crows'-feet  in  the  corners 
of  your  eyes." 

From  man's  mortality  the  Psalmist  seeks  refuge 
in  God's  eternity.  As  the  first  and  foremost  thought 
it  begins  the  Psalm ;  and  there  evidently  underlies 
it  the  assumption  that  man's  immortality  is  involved 
in  the  immortality  of  God.  "  Lord,  Thou  hast  been 
our  dwelling-place  in  all  generations,"  and  as  at  the 
bush  Jehovah  proclaimed,  "  I  am  the  God  of  Abra- 
ham, Isaac,  and  Jacob," — showing  that  these  godly 
patriarchs  stiU  were  extant,  and  stiU  had  a  life  in 
the  great  I  AM,  so  from  the  wreck  and  desolation 
all  around  him,  the  Psalmist  lifts  his  eyes  to  that 
true  and  only  Potentate,  who  alone  hath  immorta- 
lity. Of  all  the  godly  generations  God  is  the  eternal 
home.     Nothing  which  He  once  blesses  with  His 


THE  MAN  OF  GOD."  357 

friendship  is  ever  blotted  out  of  being,  or  is  dis- 
appointed of  that  exceeding  great  reward  to  which 
He  Himself  has  taught  it  to  aspire.  The  tent  is 
gone,  but  the  pilgrim  lives.  The  tent  is  torn  and 
scattered  amongst  the  elements ;  but  the  pilgrim 
has  exchanged  its  frail  and  flimsy  shelter  for  a  house 
eternal.  He  has  got  better  than  any  building 
made  with  hands,  for  He  has  passed  in  beneath  the 
covert  of  the  Almighty,  and  will  henceforth  have 
that  home  which  God  had  for  Himself  before  the 
mountains  were  brought  forth,  or  ever  He  had 
formed  the  earth  and  the  world. 

If  man  he  ephemeral,  God  is  eternal.  Such  is  the 
first  consideration.  But  a  second  thought  strikes 
the  Psalmist.  After  he  has  depicted  life's  shortness 
he  seems  startled  by  his  own  description.  Is  it 
so?  Is  it  really  a  dream — a  sleep — a  yesterday? 
Then  how  astounding  is  the  universal  delusion  ! 
what  a  mad  mistake  is  this  general  hope  that  to- 
morrow will  be  as  this  day  and  much  more  abun- 
dant !  "  Lord,  teach  us  so  to  number  our  days,  that 
we  may  apply  our  hearts  unto  wisdom."  On  which 
Calvin  remarks,  "  Children  learn  numbers  as  soon 
as  they  begin  to  prattle,  and  we  do  not  need  an 
arithmetical  tutor  to  enable  us  to  count  a  hundred 
on  our  fingers.  So  much  the  more  shameful  is  our 
stupidity  in  never  comprehending  the  short  term  of 
our  life.     Even  the  most  accomplished  accountant 


358  "A  PRAYEE  OF  MOSES, 

is  unable  to  calculate  the  fourscore  years  of  his  own 
existence.  Surely  it  is  monstrous  that  men  can 
measure  all  distances  outside  of  themselves.  They 
can  tell  how  far  asunder  are  the  several  planets,  and 
how  many  miles  it  is  from  the  centre  of  the  moon 
to  the  centre  of  the  earth,  but  they  cannot  measure 
the  threescore  years  and  ten  which  divide  their 
cradle  from  their  grave.  To  do  this  no  one  is  wise 
enough  till  God  shines  into  His  understanding  by 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  for  this  rare  wisdom  Moses 
now  sets  himself  to  prayer." 

That  prayer  passes  on  to  other  points.  He  en- 
treats that  the  period  of  rebuke  and  chastisement 
may  now  be  succeeded  by  a  season  of  revival  and 
renovation.  "  Eeturn,  O  Lord,  how  long  [wilt  Thou 
be  angry?]  and  let  it  repent  thee  concerning  thy 
servants.  Oh  satisfy  us  early  with  thy  mercy ;  that 
we  may  rejoice  and  be  glad  all  our  days.  Make 
us  glad  according  to  the  days  wherein  thou  hast 
afflicted  us,  and  the  years  wherein  we  have  seen 
evil."  And  more  especially  he  prays  that  the  pre- 
sent juncture  may  be  signalized  by  more  of  God's 
power  and  presence,  so  that  before  the  departing 
generation  entirely  left  the  stage,  it  might  have  the 
comfort  of  seeing  that  its  work  was  done,  and  that  a 
better  race  was  coming  on.  "  Let  thy  work  appear 
unto  thy  servants,  and  thy  glory  unto  their  children. 
And  let  the  beauty  of  the  Lord  our  God  be  upon  us; 


THE  MAN  OF  GOD."  359 

and  establish  thou  the  work  of  our  hands  upon  us  ; 
yea,  the  work  of  our  hands  establish  thou  it;" — a 
prayer  in  which  is  involved  the  principle  that  the 
shorter  the  individual  existence  is,  it  becomes  all 
the  more  urgent  to  exert  a  beneficial  influence  on 
others,  so  as  to  transmit  to  posterity  a  portion  of 
ourselves  which  shall  thus  become  imperishable; 
and  a  prayer  w^hich  in  the  instance  before  us  was 
abundantly  answered  ;  for  now  that  the  murmurers 
were  dead,  now  that  a  new  generation  had  learned 
the  dangers  of  disobedience,  and  been  somewhat 
weaned  from  idols,  it  is  probable  that  the  Hebrew 
nation  exhibited  as  much  of  the  beauty  of  holiness  as 
at  any  period  of  their  history.  Referring  to  this  time, 
the  Lord  says,  "  I  remember  thee,  the  kindness  of 
thy  youth,  the  love  of  thine  espousals,  when  thou 
wentest  after  me  in  the  wilderness,  in  a  land  that 
was  not  sown.  Israel  was  holiness  unto  the  Lord" 
(Jer.  ii.  2,  3).  And  as  this  "beauty  of  Jehovah" 
was  on  the  rising  race,  Moses  had  reason  to  believe 
that  the  Lord's  work  was  appearing,  and  that  his 
own  work  would  be  established  ;  and — now  that  it 
has  assumed  the  form  of  prayer,  and  so  from  man's 
sin  and  frailty  has  risen  up  into  the  region  of  Jeho- 
vah's faithfulness  and  love — the  meditation  loses  all 
its  mournfulness,  and  ends  in  a  gleam  of  hope  and 
gladness. 

This  Psalm  has  already  furnished  us  with   two 


3G0  "A  PRAYER  OF  MOSES, 

discourses  (vers.  12  and  14),  and  so  we  shall  now 
confine  ourselves  to  the  lesson  of  its  closing  verses. 

1.  You  will  observe  a  beautiful  parallelism  be- 
tween two  things  which  are  sometimes  confounded 
and  sometimes  too  jealously  sundered  :  I  mean  God's 
agency  and  marCs  instmmentality,  between  man's 
personal  activity  and  that  power  of  God  which 
actuates  and  animates,  and  gives  it  a  vital  efficacy. 
For  forty  years  it  had  been  the  business  of  Moses 
to  bring  Israel  into  a  right  state  politically,  morally, 
religiously  :  that  had  been  his  work.  And  yet,  in 
so  far  as  it  was  to  have  any  success  or  enduringness, 
it  must  be  God's  work.  "  The  work  of  our  hands  " 
do  Thou  establish;  and  this  God  does  when,  in 
answer  to  prayer.  He  adopts  the  work  of  His  ser- 
vants, and  makes  it  His  own  "work,"  His  own 
"  glory,"  His  own  "  beauty." 

And  so  if  any  of  you  are  concerned  for  the  good 
of  others,  the  secret  of  success  and  the  best  security 
for  permanence  is  prayer.  To  all  your  efforts  bring 
your  best ;  throw  into  them  all  the  tact  and  all  the 
energy  of  which  you  are  capable ;  bring  to  them  the 
utmost  of  your  affection,  skill,  and  earnestness ; 
and  when  you  have  done  your  best  you  will  feel 
most  deeply  that  God  Himself  must  do  it  all.  Here 
you  stand  seeking  into  the  mind  of  this  loved  one 
admission  for  the  gospel  and  for  the  Son  of  God ; 
but  you  stand  before  a  door  which  cannot  be  forced, 


THE  MAN  OF  GOD."  361 

and  it  is  only  He  that  hath  the  key  of  David  who 
can  open  it,  and  who,  introducing  your  message,  can 
withal  enter  Himself.  Here  is  a  history  over  whose 
early  and  critical  outset  you  are  anxious.  At 
present  it  is  like  a  rill  rising  on  the  watershed  of  a 
far  inland  range,  and  although  you  make  every 
exertion  to  direct  it  into  that  quarter  where  it  will 
flow  long  and  illustriously  and  usefully,  it  shows 
a  sad  propensity  towards  those  sour  and  swampy 
levels  where  it  must  be  engulfed  and  wasted,  and 
where  it  will  ignobly  disappear;  but  the  heart  of 
the  youth,  the  heart  of  the  child,  is  in  the  hand  of 
the  Lord,  and,  as  a  river  of  water,  He  can  turn  it 
whichever  way  He  will ;  and  if  He  will  kindly 
interpose,  from  this  time  forward  its  course  will  be 
shaped  aright,  not  perhaps  so  steady  and  so  uniform 
as  you  wish,  not  so  straight  as  a  conduit,  not  so 
placid  as  the  surface  of  a  canal ;  a  little  wriggling 
at  the  first,  a  little  noisy,  a  little  redundant  now 
and  then  ;  but  by-and-bye  gladdening  the  banks  on 
either  hand,  and  to  the  right  course  too  far  com- 
mitted to  make  you  fearful  of  its  deflecting  towards 
the  desert  or  turning  backward  to  the  sea  of  death. 

2.  A  man  of  piety  is  a  man  of  public  spirit.  It 
is  not  only  in  the  great  congregation,  but  in  secret 
and  domestic  devotion,  that  the  man  of  God  has  at 
heart  the  cause  of  God,  and  prays,  "Let  thy  work 
appear."     Hitherto  God  has  been  working  in  the 


3G2  "A  PRAYER  OF  MOSES, 

world.  His  great  work  is  that  w^hich  He  carries 
on  in  the  souls  of  men,  and  there  has  never  been  a 
time  w^ien  some  did  not  experience  His  worh  of 
saving  and  transforming  grace.  But  the  time  when 
God  works  most  apparently  is  the  time  when  His 
people  pray  most  earnestly.  This  year  opened 
with  much  prayer,  and  every  successive  week  has 
brought  instalments  of  the  answer.  In  some  of  the 
mission  fields — amongst  the  Karens  of  Burmah  and 
the  Hindus  of  Tinnevelly — the  aw^aking  has  been 
wonderful;  and  here  at  home — in  Wales,  to  some 
extent  in  London,  still  more  in  Dublin,  in  Glasgow, 
Perth,  and  Aberdeen,  and  in  the  fishing  villages 
along  the  eastern  coast,  from  Eyemouth  to  Peter- 
head, great  numbers  have  been  added  to  the  Church. 
And  with  the  patriotism  of  Moses,  with  the  phil- 
anthropy of  Christians,  it  behoves  us  to  urge  the 
prayer  and  with  every  corresponding  effort  empha- 
size the  Amen,  till  God's  work  "  appear"  throughout 
these  isles,  till  His  way  is  known  through  all  the 
earth,  till  the  name  of  His  holy  child  Jesus  is  adored 
by  all  the  nations. 

3.  God  is  glorified  and  His  work  advances  when 
His  church  is  beautiful.  "  The  beauty  of  the  Lord  " 
is  the  beauty  of  holiness, — that  beauty  which  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  himself  shone  with  lustre  so  resplendent, 
and  which  ought  to  be  repeated  or  reflected  by  every 
disciple.     And  it  is  towards  this  that  all  amongst  us 


THE  MAN  OF  GOD.''  363 

who  love  the  Saviour,  and  who  long  for  the  exten- 
sion of  His  kingdom,  should  very  mainly  direct  their 
endeavours.  Nothing  can  be  sadder  than  when 
preaching  or  personal  effort  is  contradicted  and 
neutralized  by  the  low  or  unlovely  lives  of  those  who 
pass  for  Christians ;  and  nothing  can  go  further  to 
insure  success  than  when  prayer  is  carried  out  and 
preaching  is  seconded  by  the  pure,  holy,  and 
benevolent  lives  of  those  who  seek  to  follow  the 
Lamb  whithersoever  He  goeth.  Dear  brethren,  be 
this  your  effort.  In  loving  meditation  and  affec- 
tionate communion  draw  near  to  the  Lord  Jesus. 
Draw  so  near  that  His  glory  will  lighten  upon  you, 
and  that  His  lineaments  of  grace  and  truth  will  be 
reflected  by  you.  Draw  so  near  that  the  beauty 
which  for  a  great  way  round  encircles  Him  will 
enclose  and  encompass  you.  And  then  the  living 
evidence,  the  palpable  demonstration  will  go  further 
than  a  thousand  arguments.  The  book  may  be  shut 
and  flung  into  a  corner;  the  sermon  may  be  for- 
gotten, or  the  lay  figure  which  was  left  in  the  pew 
whilst  the  inner  man  went  back  to  the  opera  or  took 
a  run  through  his  ledger, — that  lay  figure  may  never 
have  listened  to  a  single  sentence  :  but  when  at  last 
the  day-dream  dissolves,  when  the  man  is  come  to 
himself,  he  will  say,  "  Yes,  but  it  is  real.  There  is 
in  religion  something  more  than  forms  or  phrases. 
I  have  seen  it.     In  the  old  disciple  I  have  seen  its 


364   "A  PEAYER  OF  MOSES,  THE  MAN  OF  GOD." 

mellow  grandeur, — its  meek,  patient,  unmurmuring 
majesty;  in  the  deathbed  of  the  young  believer  I 
have  seen  the  love  of  life,  the  fear  of  death,  absorbed 
in  the  hope  full  of  immortality.  In  that  sincere 
and  solid  comrade,  so  pestered  and  so  persecuted,  I 
have  seen  the  might  of  sterling  principle;  in  that 
helpmeet  so  rallied  for  her  scruples,  and  often  so 
obstructed  in  her  well-meant  efforts,  I  have  seen  the 
inexhaustible  long-suffering  and  gentleness  which 
God  bestows  on  those  who  pray  for  it.  These  are 
saints  ;  for  I  have  seen  them,  and  they  were  very 
beautiful.     0  God,  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner." 


XXV. 

"  So  Moses,  the  servant  of  the  Lord,  died  there,  in  the  land  of  Moab, 
according  to  the  word  of  the  Lord.  And  he  buried  him  in  a 
valley  in  the  land  of  Moab,  over  against  Beth-peor  :  but  no  man 
knoweth  of  his  sepulchre  unto  this  day.  And  Moses  was  an  hun- 
dred and  twenty  years  old  when  he  died  :  his  eye  was  not  dim, 
nor  his  natui-al  force  abated." — Deut.  xxxiv.  5-7. 

Calm  and  colossal,  not  so  mucli  distinguished  by 
his  individual  features  as  by  the  mighty  deeds  with 
which  he  is  identified,  stands  out  the  figure  of  that 
Hebrew  lawgiver ;  and  betwixt  the  romantic  inci- 
dents of  his  birth  and  upbringing,  his  unparalleled 
achievements  as  the  conductor  of  a  national  exodus, 
and  his  exalted  function  as  the  founder  of  the 
Hebrew  commonwealth  and  the  father  of  a  new 
dispensation,  no  mere  man  has  exerted  a  larger 
or  more  enduring  influence  on  human  history. 

The  end  was  in  keeping  with  such  illustrious 
antecedents.  Lately  we  had  occasion  to  consider 
the  solitary  false  step  or  stumble  in  his  public 
career,  and  nothing  could  more  strikingly  exhibit 
the  strictness  of  that  "  schoolmaster  "  economy  than 
the  way  in  which  this  single  offence  was  visited. 

365 


366  THE  DEATH  OF  MOSES. 

The  eating  of  the  forbidden  fruit  was  hardly  more 
fatal  to  Adam  than  was  tlie  smiting  of  the  Eock  to 
Moses ;  and  even  although  we  can  see  the  rectitude 
of  the  dispensation,  our  hearts  will  still  revert  to  its 
severity.  It  may  be  true  that  a  significant  type  was 
spoiled  by  his  smiting  on  this  second  occasion  a  rock 
which  had  been  smitten  once  for  all  already,  and 
which  now  needed  only  to  be  spoken  to ;  it  may  be 
true  that  his  spirit  was  provoked,  and  that  the  im- 
pression which  he  conveyed  to  the  people  was  very 
different  from  that  divine  munificence  and  mercy 
which  originated  the  miracle :  yet  remembering  his 
long  services  and  his  rare  consistency,  and  conscious 
as  we  are  of  our  own  infirmity,  we  are  apt  to  share 
the  grief  and  disappointment  of  Meribah.  The  sen- 
tence may  be  righteous,  but  still  it  is  severe,  and  we 
feel  deeply  concerned  for  the  leader  who,  after  forty 
years  of  signal  service,  receives  a  rebuke  so  marked, 
and  who  sees  vanish  from  his  grasp  that  crown  for 
which  his  hoary  hairs  so  long  had  waited. 

But  if  we  behold  the  severity  of  God  we  also 
behold  His  goodness ;  and  indeed,  we  may  add,  what 
was  in  itself  so  great  a  humiliation  only  brought  out 
more  strikingly  the  real  grandeur  of  Moses.  To  err 
is  human,  and  Moses  erred  ;  but  to  be  rebuked,  to  be 
punished,  and  show  no  resentment,  is  a  rare  noble- 
ness. This  nobleness  the  grace  of  God  gave  to 
Moses,  and  hence  it  came  to  pass  that  in  all  his 


THE  DEATH  OF  MOSES.  367 

career  there  is  nothing  grander  than  its  ending.  On 
the  one  side,  mercy  triumphed  over  judgment,  and 
if  the  lawgiver  had  received  a  rebuke,  that  was  more 
than  compensated  by  the  peerless  distinction  attend- 
ing his  exit.  On  the  other  side,  grace  triumphed 
over  nature,  and  instead  of  wasting  the  time  in  a 
murmuring  remonstrance  or  unmanly  lamentations, 
warned  by  God  that  he  was  now  to  die,  he  who  as  a 
servant  had  been  so  faithful  in  all  God's  house,  now 
bestirred  himself  in  the  final  task,  and  for  the  last 
time  set  that  house  in  order. 

1.  He  first  of  all  addressed  the  people.  In  that 
discourse,  which^  fills  the  first  thirty  chapters  of 
Deuteronomy,  he  rehearsed  their  history,  and  recapi- 
tulated those  commandments  and  that  covenant,  by 
adhesion  to  which  they  were  to  become  a  people 
peculiar  and  Heaven-protected.  In  these  thirty 
chapters  we  have  the  essence  of  Exodus,  Leviticus, 
and  Numbers;  only  conveyed  in  a  tone  of  patri- 
archal affection  and  personal  tenderness,  Deutero- 
nomy is  a  speech  rather  than  a  book,  full  of  that 
anxious  fidelity  and  fatherly  desirousness  which, 
knowing  that  it  is  a  last  opportunity,  can  hardly 
leave  off,  and  which,  after  attempting  to  close,  begin 
again,  in  the  spirit  of  the  last  sentences,  Deut.  xxx. 
15-20. 

2.  Then  he  installed  his  successor.  Joshua,  so 
gaUant    and    God-fearing,    and    found   so   faithful 


368  THE  DEATH  OF  MOSES. 

amidst  the  faithless  many,  in  the  presence  of  Jehovah 
and  the  people  he  set  apart  to  that  conquest  of 
Canaan  to  which  he  himself  had  once  aspired  as  his 
dearest  guerdon,  and  the  fit  close  of  his  pilgrimage  : 
"  Be  strong,  and  of  a  good  courage ;  for  thou  must  go 
with  this  people  unto  the  land  which  the  Lord  hath 
sworn  unto  their  fathers  to  give  them;  and  thou 
shalt  cause  them  to  inherit  it.  The  Lord  will  be 
with  thee ;  he  will  not  fail  thee,  neither  forsake 
thee  :  fear  not,  neither  be  dismayed." 

3.  Next  into  that  most  remarkable  of  all  his  pro- 
ductions, the  thirty-second  chapter  of  this  book,  he 
condensed  the  substance  of  all  his  warnings  and 
entreaties,  and  along  with  them  poured  his  own  soul. 
Than  "the  song  of  Moses"  Scripture  recognises 
nothing  as  more  sublime  except  one  other  composi- 
tion, and  with  that  other  they  only  are  acquainted 
who  have  received  a  harp  of  gold,  and  along  with 
"  the  song  of  Moses,  the  servant  of  God,"  sing  "  the 
song  of  the  Lamb."  It  has  been  well  termed  ^  "  the 
Magna  Charta  of  prophecy,"  and  in  its  historical 
recollections  and  premonitory  warnings,  in  its  re- 
monstrances and  exhortations,  its  entreaties  and 
regrets,  and,  above  all,  in  its  loyalty  to  Jehovah,  it 
supplies  the  key-note,  which  we  find  constantly 
recurring  in  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  and  the  prophets  wha 
come  after. 

1  By  Eichhom. 


THE  DEATH  OF  MOSES.  3G9 

4.  And  finally,  as  the  Prophet  like  unto  Moses 
began  with  beatitudes,  so,  with  a  blessing  broad 
and  comprehensive  this  type  of  a  Mediator  closed ; 
and,  with  parting  breath  transferring  them  to  "  the 
eternal  God  as  their  refuge,"  leaving  "underneath 
the  everlasting  arms,"  he  handed  to  his  successor 
the  rod  of  office,  and  laid  down  the  task  of  all  those 
arduous  years. 

Thus  much  on  the  side  of  Moses.  His  life  and 
his  work  were  well  wound  up,  and  in  the  manner  of 
it  God  was  glorified.  And  in  His  gracious  dealing 
with  His  servant,  God  glorified  Himself. 

Although  the  sentence  was  not  literally  reversed, 
its  bitterness  was  greatly  mitigated.  Although  not 
permitted  to  pass  over  Jordan,  Moses  was  allowed 
to  look  over  it,  and,  with  his  eye  preternaturally 
strengthened,  he  got  such  a  sight  of  the  goodly  land 
as  days  of  actual  exploration  might  have  failed  to 
give.  From  JSTebo  he  looked  down  on  the  palm-trees 
of  Jericho,  close  under  his  feet,  and  from  the  deep 
warm  valley  through  which  the  Jordan  was  gleaming 
far  across  to  yon  boundless  sea ;  from  Jezreel,  with 
its  waving  corn,  to  Eshcol,  with  its  luxuriant  vines ; 
from  Bashan,  with  its  kine,  to  Carmel,  with  its  rocks 
dropping  honey ;  from  Lebanon,  with  its  rampart  of 
snow,  south  again  to  the  dim  edge  of  the  desert; 
and  as  he  feasted  his  eyes,  as  what  had  so  long  been 
the  land  very  far  off,  and  what  to  the  fretful  host  in 
2a 


370  THE  DEATH  OF  MOSES. 

the  wilderness  had  seemed  no  better  than  a  myth  or 
mirage  ;  as  the  splendid  domain  spread  out,  hill  and 
valley,  field  and  forest,  in  the  bright  garb  of  spring, 
the  Lord  said,  "  This  is  the  land  !"  "  This  is  the 
land  which  I  sware  unto  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob, 
saying,  I  will  give  it  to  thy  seed."  But  beautiful 
and  overwhelming  as  it  was,  just  then  there  began 
to  rise  on  Moses'  sight  a  still  more  wondrous  scene. 
It  was  no  longer  the  Jordan  with  its  palms,  but  a 
river  of  water  clear  as  crystal,  and  on  either  side  of 
it  a  tree  of  life  o'ercanopying.  It  was  no  longer 
Nebo's  rocky  summit,  but  a  great  white  throne, 
and  round  it  light  inaccessible.  He  had  just  heard 
the  name  of  Abraham,  and  if  this  is  not  Abraham's 
seK !  and  if  he  is  not  actually  in  Abraham's  bosom  ! 
and  in  a  better  land  than  the  land  of  promise  ! 
Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  that 
sight.  Blessed  are  the  meek,  for  they  shall  inherit 
that  better  land. 

"  So  Moses,  the  servant  of  the  Lord,  died."  The 
spirit  was  gone  home.  Behind  that  countenance, 
still  radiant  with  the  beatific  vision,  no  longer 
worked  the  busy  brain,  no  longer  went  and  came 
the  mind,  which  so  long  had  conversed  with  God, 
and  managed  the  affairs  of  a  million  people.  Power- 
less is  the  hand  which  had  swayed  Jehovah's  rod, 
and  split  the  sea  in  sunder ;  and  cold  in  its  uncon- 


THE  DEATH  OF  MOSES.  371 

sciousness  is  that  majestic  presence  before  which 
proud  Pharaoh  learned  to  tremble.  A  corpse  is  all 
that  now  remains  of  the  mighty  lawgiver,  and  there 
is  no  man  there  to  bury  him. 

But  the  Lord  is  there,  and  in  this  moment  of 
nature's  helplessness  and  humiliation  the  Lord  con- 
fers on  His  servant  the  crowning  act  of  honour.  As 
it  has  been  described — 

•'  By  Nebo's  lonely  mountain, 

On  yon  side  Jordan's  wave, 
In  a  vale  in  the  land  of  Moab 

There  lies  a  lonely  grave. 
And  no  man  dug  that  sepulchre, 

And  no  man  saw  it  e'er  ; 
For  the  angels  of  God  upturned  the  sod. 

And  laid  the  dead  man  there. 

That  was  the  grandest  funeral 

That  ever  passed  on  earth, 
But  no  man  heard  the  tramping. 

Or  saw  the  train  go  forth. 
Noiselessly  as  the  daylight 

Comes  when  the  night  is  done, 
And  the  crimson  streak  on  ocean's  cheek 

Grows  into  the  great  sun  : 

Noiselessly  as  the  spring-time 

Her  crown  of  verdure  weaves, 
And  aU  the  trees  on  all  the  hills 

Open  their  thousand  leaves  : 
So,  without  sound  of  music. 

Or  voice  of  them  that  wept, 
Silently  down  from  the  mountain's  crown 

The  great  procession  swept. 


372  THE  DEATH  OF  MOSES. 

Perchance  the  bald  old  eagle, 

On  grey  Beth-peor's  height, 
Out  of  his  rocky  eyrie 

Looked  on  the  wondrous  sight. 
Perchance  the  lion  stalking. 

Still  shuns  that  hallowed  spot  : 
For  beast  and  bird  have  seen  and  heard 

That  which  man  knoweth  not. 

But  when  the  warrior  dieth, 

His  comrades  in  the  war, 
With  arms  reversed  and  mufHed  drum, 

Follow  the  funeral  car. 
They  show  the  banners  taken, 

They  tell  his  battles  won. 
And  after  him  lead  his  masterless  steed, 

While  peals  the  minute-gun. 

Amid  the  noblest  of  the  land 

Men  lay  the  sage  to  rest. 
And  give  the  bard  an  honoured  place 

With  costly  marble  drest, 
In  the  great  minster  transept 

Where  lights  like  glories  fall, 
And  the  choir  sings  and  the  organ  rings 

Along  the  emblazoned  wall. 

This  was  the  bravest  warrior 

That  ever  buckled  sword  ; 
This  the  most  gifted  poet 

That  ever  breathed  a  word  ; 
And  never  earth's  philosopher 

Traced  with  his  golden  pen 
On  the  deathless  page  truth  half  so  sage 

As  he  wrote  down  for  men. 

And  had  he  not  high  honour  ? 

The  hill-side  for  his  pall. 
To  lie  in  state  while  angels  wait 

With  stars  for  tapers  tall, 


THE  DEATH  OF  MOSES.  373 

And  the  dark  rock-pines  like  tossing  plumes 

Over  his  bier  to  wave, 
And  God's  own  hand  in  that  lonely  land 

To  lay  him  in  the  grave  : — 

In  that  deep  grave  without  a  name, 

Whence  his  uncofl&ned  clay 
Shall  break  again — most  wondrous  thought! — 

Before  the  judgment-day ; 
And  stand  with  glory  wrapped  around 

On  the  hills  he  never  trod. 
And  speak  of  the  strife  that  won  our  life 

With  the  incarnate  Son  of  God. 

Oh  lonely  tomb  in  Moab's  land  ! 

Oh  dark  Beth-peor's  hill ! 
Speak  to  these  curious  hearts  of  ours, 

And  teach  them  to  be  still. 
God  hath  His  mysteries  of  grace, 

Ways  that  we  cannot  t  11  ; 
He  hides  them  deep  like  the  secret  sleep 

Of  him  He  loved  so  well."  ^ 

And  so,  my  dear  friends,  we  finish  our  sketcli  of 
the  Life  and  Times  of  Moses.  It  has  occupied  five- 
and-twenty  lectures,  and,  by  way  of  sequel  or 
supplement,  I  should  like  to  give  some  day,  in  a 
single  lecture,  a  bird's-eye  view  of  Hebrew  History, 
the  fortunes  and  distinguishing  features  of  that 
people  on  whom,  in  the  hand  of  God,  Moses  im- 
pressed its  religious  and  political  characteristics,  and 
the  function  which  they  have  fulfilled  in  the  world 
at  large.  In  this  way  only  can  we  appreciate  how 
great  the  work  of  Moses  was,  when  we  see  its  re- 

^  Mrs.  Alexander. 


374  THE  DEATH  OF  MOSES. 

suits  not  only  in  Solomon  and  Daniel,  in  John  and 
Paul,  but  all  down  the  ages  in  Ben  Ezra  and  Maim- 
onides,  in  Mendelssohn  and  Meierbeer,  in  Eothschild, 
in  Spinoza,  in  the  minstrels  who  have  held  by  the 
ears  enraptured  capitals,  in  the  millionnaires  who 
have  carried  in  their  pockets  the  peace  of  empires, 
in  the  philosophers  who  have  given  new  problems 
for  wit  to  solve,  new  realms  for  mind  to  conquer. 

And  the  lessons  of  that  life  !  Yes,  my  friends, 
every  life  has  its  lessons,  and  every  good  life  has  its 
example  and  encouragement.  Even  the  little  house- 
hold lamp  which  shone  on  your  table  through  that 
one  short  winter,  now  that  it  is  out  it  leaves  the 
public  street  no  darker,  but  oh !  so  desolate  as  it 
has  left  your  dwelling  !  But  histories  like  this  are 
smis,  and  age  after  age  myriads  rejoice  in  their 
light. 

You  are  not  a  prophet  nor  a  bard,  nor  the  father 
of  a  people,  and  yet  the  life  of  Moses  has  something 
for  you.  As  the  honest  carpenter  said,  "  I  like  to 
read  about  Moses.  He  carried  a  hard  business  well 
through.  A  man  must  have  courage  to  look  at  his 
life  and  think  what  '11  come  of  it  after  he 's  dead  and 
gone.  A  good  solid  bit  of  work  lasts;  if  it 's  only  the 
laying  a  floor  down,  somebody's  the  better  for  its 
being  well  done,  besides  the  man  who  does  it."  ^  It 
was  a  hard  business,  but  he  carried  it  well  through. 

1  Adam,  Bede,  ii.  68. 


THE  DEATH  OF  MOSES.  375 

You,  poor  widow,  who  have  a  large  family  to  bring 
up  and  to  educate — you,  householder,  who  have 
many  likings  to  consult,  and  many  tempers  to  study 
— you,  manager  of  your  own  or  another's  business, 
who  have  many  casualties  to  provide  for,  and  many 
cares  coming  on  you  daily,  cast  yourself  on  Him 
whom  Moses  in  each  emergency  consulted,  and  de- 
pend upon  it  He  mil  carry  you  through.  The  w^ork 
of  Moses  was  done  in  the  presence  of  the  fiery- 
cloudy  pillar,  and  as  conscience  was  in  it,  so  immor- 
tality surrounds  it ;  and  if  your  work  be  done  for 
God's  sake,  and  under  His  eye,  it  will  last  long  after 
you  are  gone. 

From  Moses  you  should  learn  to  despair  of  no 
excellence.  Many  of  the  Bible  worthies  take  their 
peculiar  tint  or  tone  from  one  particular  grace — Job 
from  his  patience,  Abraham  from  his  faith,  Nathanael 
from  his  guilelessness ;  but  meekness  is  the  attri- 
bute assigned  to  Moses.  But  when  did  he  get  it  ? 
He  was  not  meek  to  begin  with.  He  was  not  meek 
when  he  smote  the  Egyptian  and  hid  him  in  the 
sand  ;  nor  would  you  have  thought  him  meek  when, 
descending  the  mountain  at  sight  of  the  people's 
idolatry,  he  dashed  in  pieces  the  tables  consecrated 
by  the  holograph  of  Heaven,  and  for  the  moment 
felt  that  it  was  no  use  taking  further  pains  with 
such  a  people ;  and  yet  in  order  to  subserve  Jehovah's 
purpose  it  was  needful  that  the  temper  of  the  leader 


376  THE  DEATH  OF  MOSES. 

should  become  ductile  as  the  beaten  gold  and  elastic 
as  the  tempered  steel.  Seldom  has  the  triumph 
been  more  complete.  The  man  Moses  became  ex- 
ceeding meek,  and  throughout  all  the  sequel  Meribah 
is  the  one  brief  outburst  which  interrupts  the  sweet- 
ness and  self-control  of  nearly  forty  years.  So  you 
need  not  despair.  In  a  besieged  town  all  pains  are 
taken  to  strengthen  the  weakest  places,  till  at  last 
they  are  often  the  strongest ;  so  when  the  believer 
knows  his  own  weakness,  it  will  make  him  unhappy. 
This  is  the  point  against  which  Satan  is  sure  to  aim 
a  surprise  or  muster  a  fierce  assault,  and  if  the  town 
is  taken  the  man  may  be  lost.  This  sends  him  to 
prayer,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  builds  up  and  strengthens 
where  nature  was  weak,^  till  at  the  point  which  is 
the  key  of  the  entire  position  a  tower  of  strength 
uprises.  What  is  your  besetting  sin  ?  Would  it  not 
be  glorious  to  have  it  replaced  by  some  contrary 
and  conspicuous  excellence  ? — the  love  of  luxury  by 
simplicity,  self-indulgence  by  sobriety,  cunning  and 
finesse  by  straightforwardness  and  sincerity,  dulness 
and  earthly-mindedness  by  fervour  and  devotion  ? 
Would  it  not  be  an  excellent  test  of  the  genuineness 
of  your  profession  if  you  could  bring  yourself  to 
search  out  the  worst  point  and  the  weakest  in  your 
character,  and,  whatever  it  might  be,  having  found 
it  out  and  fixed  upon  it,  will  you  go  to  the  Eock  of 

1  Isaac  Williams  on  Old  Testament  Characters,  p.  86. 


THE  DEATH  OF  MOSES.  377 

your  salvation  and  say,  "  This  sin  is  like  to  be  my 
ruin.  This  is  the  point  at  which  the  enemy  will 
come  in  like  a  flood,  unless,  0  Spirit  of  the  Lord, 
Thou  lift  up  a  standard  and  raise  an  embankment 
against  him.  Here,  where  I  am  weak,  make  me 
strong.  Here,  where  I  am  defenceless,  be  Thou  my 
shield  and  my  buckler"  ?  And  would  it  not  be  to 
yourself  most  comforting,  to  the  name  of  Christ 
and  to  the  grace  of  the  Spirit  most  honouring,  if  the 
result  of  felt  infirmity  and  consequent  prayer,  and 
watchfulness  consequent  on  that  again,  were,  that 
(the  weakness  of  the  disciple  bringing  out  the  power 
of  the  Master)  your  natural  gruffness  became  a 
Heaven-nurtured  gentleness,  your  natural  self- 
absorption  a  divinely-implanted  kindness,  your 
natural  wrath  and  precipitancy  a  meekness  like 
that  which,  if  it  cannot  be  learned  from  Moses,  may 
be  acquired  from  that  greater  Master  who  says, 
"  Learn  of  Me,  for  I  am  meek,  and  you  will  find  rest 
to  your  soul," — that  rest  which  Jesus  never  quitted, 
and  into  which  you  also  will  with  Moses  enter  the 
moment  true  meekness  begins. 

We  get  one  glimpse  of  Moses  after  death,  and  it 
is  important,  for  the  light  it  throws  on  the  world 
unseen.  There  was  one  thing  which  Moses  desired 
of  the  Lord,  and  sought  after,  and  that  was  an 
entrance  into  the  Land  of  Promise.  But  there  was 
another  thing  which  he  sought  still  more  expressly, 


378  THE  DEATH  OF  MOSES. 

and  his  prayer  for  which  also  stands  on  record,  "  I 
beseech  Thee,  show  me  thy  glory."  But  during  his 
earthly  existence  neither  desire  was  fully  granted. 
From  the  cleft  of  the  rock  he  obtained  a  remote  and 
rearward  view  of  God's  glory,  and  from  the  top  of 
Pisgah  he  saw  the  goodly  land,  but  with  the  Jordan 
between.  And  then  he  died.  He  died ;  and  there 
are  embargos  which  death  removes,  just  as  there  are 
barriers  it  overleaps  and  penalties  which  it  pays  in 
full.  Moses  died,  and  long  ages  afterwards  was 
seen  on  earth  again  ;  and  surely  in  both  the  time 
and  place  there  was  a  deep  significance.  It  was  on 
the  holy  mount  when  the  Lord  Jesus  was  trans- 
figured, and  when  He  received  from  God  the  Father 
honour  and  glory.  The  veil  that  shrouds  the  view- 
less was  for  a  moment  sundered,  and  frail  mortality 
could  not  stand  it ;  but  at  home  in  the  midst  of  it, 
and  familiar  with  it,  Moses  and  Elijah  appeared 
amidst  the  glory,  and,  as  if  in  their  appropriate 
element,  "talked"  with  the  glorified  Eedeemer.  And 
where  ?  In  the  heart  of  that  Holy  Land,  — on  the 
top  of  one  of  those  hills  which  his  mortal  feet  were 
never  to  tread,  but  which  may  have  been  the  fre- 
quent resort  of  his  ransomed  spirit.  To  meet  wdth 
Moses  and  Elijah  Jesus  ascended  that  mountain 
apart,  knowing  that  He  would  find  them  there  ; 
and  the  glory  which  startled  disciples  was  no  sur- 
prise to  them,  for  they  had  been  beholding  the  like 


THE  DEATH  OF  MOSES.  379 

tlirough  all  these  intermediate  centuries.  "I  be- 
seech Thee,  show  me  Thy  glory,"  "  I  pray  Thee,  let 
me  go  over  and  see  the  good  land  that  is  beyond 
Jordan,  that  goodly  mountain,  even  Lebanon."  Such 
are  the  two  prayers  of  Moses,  the  man  of  God,  and 
he  dies  (you  would  be  apt  to  say)  with  neither  peti- 
tion gTanted,  with  each  earnest  prayer  unfulfilled. 

But  come  along  to  Tabor,  and  say,  what  good 
land  is  this  which  spreads  around  ?  What  goodly 
mountain  is  that  which  into  the  northern  firmament 
rears  its  verdant  sides  and  snowy  pinnacle?  Whose 
glory  is  this  that  with  rapt  but  not  unaccustomed 
gaze  he  is  looking  on  ? 

And  would  not  the  Lord  thus  teach  us  that  "  the 
desire  of  the  righteous  shall  be  granted"  ?  With 
Moses  do  you  pray,  "  Show  me  thy  glory"  ?  Well, 
you  shall  see  it.  The  Lord  'Jesus  also  prays, 
"Father,  I  will  that  they  whom  Thou  hast  given  me 
be  with  me  where  I  am,  that  they  may  behold  my 
glory,"  and  you  shall  see  it.  "  Woe  is  me,  that  I 
sojourn  in  Meshech  1"  Wearied  with  the  dry  and 
monotonous  desert,  do  you  long  for  scenes  fairer 
and  more  fruitful  ?  God  will  show  you  a  pure 
river  of  water  of  life  proceeding  out  of  the  throne  of 
God,  and  on  either  side  of  it  the  tree  of  life,  with 
twelve  manner  of  fruits,  and  with  leaves  that  heal 
the  nations.  Dissatisfied  with  the  tents  of  sin,  do 
you  desire  this  one  thing, — that  all  your  days  you 


380  THE  DEATH  OF  MOSES. 

may  dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  ?  Your  desire 
shall  be  granted  ;  for  if  you  hold  on,  you  shall 
become  a  pillar  in  that  temple,  to  go  no  more  out. 
Do  you  pant  for  knowledge,  for  broader  views, 
deeper  insight,  clearer  apprehension?  Then  you 
shall  know  even  as  you  are  known.  Do  you  hunger 
and  thirst  after  righteousness  ?  Then  "  with  the 
fatness  of  God's  house  you  11  be  well  satisfied ;  from 
rivers  of  His  pleasures  He  will  drink  for  you  pro- 
vide." 


EDINBURGH  :   PRINTED  BY    THOMAS  AND  ARCHIBALD  CONSTABLE, 
PRINTERS  TO  THE  QUEEN,  AND  TO  THE  UNIVERSITY. 


Date  Due                         ■ 

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